Average Condo Sale Price $111,000; Up 31% Over Year Ago

Sales prices for condominiums in the San Fernando Valley were up 31% last month from the level of January, 1985, probably because some high-priced condos have at last started to sell, the president of the San Fernando Valley Board of Realtors said Monday.

The report was a glimmer of good news in the depressed condo market. The board reported that the average condo sales price rose to $111,000 from just $84,700 a year ago and that the number of condos sold climbed from 95 to 150.

Temmy Walker, the board’s president, said condo prices generally are “still as depressed as they were,” but that there has been some movement among higher priced units.

“Some of your $200,000 condos are beginning to sell again,” she said.

Vigor in Single-Family Homes

Walker said that phenomenon is probably caused by the renewed strength in the single-family housing market. The average price of a single-family home in the Valley reached $161,900 last month, up 7% from January, 1985. The number of units sold rose 13%, to 893.

That was also greater than December’s home-sales volume, but sales prices dipped an average of 1%. The number of houses and condos sold by realtors in the area extending from North Hollywood to Agoura climbed to 1,043 in January, from 921 in December.

Real estate agents continued to predict a strong market for home sales in the Valley this year.

Jerry Berns, president of a Sherman Oaks real estate firm, said the pace of single-family-home sales was becoming almost a “frenzy.”

Walker suggested that some older people who sold very high-priced homes have been buying expensive condos in the area. She also said that, whenever demand for houses starts to outstrip supply, more people consider condos.

Experts say, however, that it is still much harder to sell a condo than a house, and many people remain cautious about buying one. They said condo sales remain in a slump that began three years ago.

“It’s exaggeratedly true that only the best price and terms are selling,” said Berns. In most cases, he said, the condos that sell are new units being marketed aggressively by developers.

As more evidence of the strong market in the Valley, James Link, the board’s staff vice president, noted that the average time to sell a home in January in the Valley was 89 days, down seven days from January, 1985.