LOCAL : O.C. Posts Drop in Housing Sales

Orange County was the only area of California to experience a decrease in the number of existing single-family houses sold during the first quarter of 1989 compared to the same period a year earlier, the California Assn. of Realtors reported today.

Sales fell .6% in Orange County, in contrast to increases of 15% in Los Angeles and 22.3% in all of California.

Real estate experts attributed the slowdown in Orange County to high prices. The realtors’ board said the median price of a single-family house in Orange County during the first quarter of 1989 was $237,887, the second highest price in the state next to the San Francisco Bay Area. (Story, Page 3.)

Orange County’s median home price was an increase of 30% from $182,668 in the same period a year earlier and a jump of 5% from $226,362 for the fourth quarter of 1988.