County Taxable Sales Gain Lags Behind State’s
Taxable sales in Orange County climbed 6.2% to more than $5.7 billion during the first quarter, but the rate of gain failed to outpace California’s for the first time in more than five years, according to preliminary results released this week by the State Board of Equalization.
For the state, taxable sales for the first quarter jumped 9.8% to $57.3 billion. That translates to real, or inflation-adjusted, growth of 5% because prices rose an average of 4.5% during the past year, according to the board.
Much of the state’s growth is traceable to the strong performance of new car dealers, who brought in $6.2 billion in taxable receipts. That marked a 20.9% increase in taxable sales from a year ago. While new car sales were strong, part of the increase from 1987 reflects the fact that last year’s first quarter was exceptionally bad for new car sales, the board said.
The state’s taxable sales data measures consumer spending for products ranging from clothing and building materials to restaurants and service stations.
Orange County’s taxable sales growth typically is two or three points ahead of the statewide average, said Dave Hayes, research analyst with the board in Sacramento. The last time the county lagged behind the state in taxable sales growth was the fourth quarter of 1982, when Orange County recorded a 2.2% increase compared to California’s 2.8%
Two reasons for Orange County’s failure to keep pace with the state during the first quarter of this year could be high housing costs and the popularity of discount retailers in Orange County, suggested Alfred Gobar, an economic consultant with Brea-based Alfred Gobar & Associates.
“People may be deferring the purchase of consumer durables . . . to try to make the down payment on a house,” Gobar explained. At the same time, the popularity of off-price retailers--such as Price Club, Home Depot, Pace and the Warehouse--could mean that people are buying more but paying less--so there is little or no percentage increase in dollars.
Among Orange County cities, Anaheim led the list with $664.3 million in taxable sales, up 1.5% from last year. Santa Ana saw a 6.7% jump with taxable sales of $604.9 million.
TOTAL SALES BY COMMUNITY IN 1988 FIRST QUARTER
Rank/City Sales (in thousands) 1. Anaheim $664,278 2. Santa Ana 604,892 3. Costa Mesa 456,848 4. Irvine 413,154 5. Orange 370,729 6. Huntington Beach 365,408 7. Garden Grove 276,987 8. Fullerton 262,005 9. Newport Beach 220,450 10. Buena Park 192,873 11. Westminster 163,580 12. Tustin 147,649 13. Brea 115,537 14. La Habra 87,104 15. Fountain Valley 82,288 16. Cypress 67,624 17. Placentia 58,918 18. San Juan Capistrano 54,667 19. Stanton 52,233 20. Los Alamitos 49,753 21. San Clemente 43,640 22. Laguna Beach 36,103 23. Yorba Linda 25,494 24. Seal Beach 22,330 County total 5,739,787
Source: State Board of Equalization
