Average Sample Home Price Up to $192,600 in 7-County Survey

The average appraised value of existing homes in the seven-county Southland area rose to $192,600 in April, a 7.7% increase from last October and a 15.6% increase from April, 1987, according to a semi-annual survey of 214 sample homes.

This is the third consecutive survey by the Real Estate Research Council of Southern California showing double-digit home price inflation in Southern California, according to executive director Michael Carney.

Survey results were released at last week’s quarterly luncheon of the council at Cal Poly Pomona, where the nonprofit research unit is based.

The overall home price increase for Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Bernardino, Riverside and San Diego counties was 10.2% in the April, 1987, survey and 13.7% in the October, 1987, price survey, he said.

Carney cautioned that the home price survey is intended to show trends in home prices, rather than levels. The figures represent the average of the market prices of the existing homes in the council’s sample, not the average price of all houses in each county, nor the average price of houses actually sold.

‘Rise Not Uniform’

Los Angeles County had the highest average home price, $235,400, followed by Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, $184,00; Orange County, $181,543; San Diego County, $167,200, and Riverside and San Bernardino counties, $115,300.

“While this is clearly a time of rapidly appreciating home prices in many areas of Southern California, the overall 15.6% rise was not uniform throughout the seven counties,” Carney said.

“Many areas within Los Angeles, Ventura, Orange, Santa Barbara and San Diego counties are experiencing very high rates of home price appreciation--in the range of 15% to 25% annually, while areas such as Riverside and San Bernardino counties and parts of Los Angeles County are showing appreciation in the 7% to 9% range,” he added.

In Los Angeles County, home prices in the Westside-Santa Monica area continued to increase at more than 25% annually. Prices in the Long Beach Harbor area increased about 25% a year, while Southwest area prices jumped 22%, Carney said.

Annual Price Appreciation

The North Central-Pasadena area of Los Angeles County registered a 19% annual price appreciation, followed by the San Fernando Valley at 18%, the Southeast area at 17%, and about 8% in the San Gabriel Valley and Pomona areas.

Average prices increased 20% in Ventura County, with a 24% rise in Oxnard-Ventura; Santa Barbara County price increases slowed a little, to 18% annually. Orange County prices increased at an 18% annual rate, paced by a 26% increase for the county’s Central area.

Prices in the San Diego City Beaches area rose 17%, while San Bernardino and Riverside counties again had the lowest rates of appreciation, about 7% a year, Carney said.

The market price index for the seven-county area reached 410 in April, indicating that the average home price in the sample has increased 310% from the base-year 1975 price--an 11.5% compound annual rate of increase over the past 13 years.

Areas with indexes larger than 500, indicating a quadrupling of prices since 1975, include Westside-Santa Monica (644), Oxnard-Ventura (574), North Central-Pasadena (558), Long Beach Harbor (541) and Santa Barbara (530).