House Resale Prices Slip 2% for October

The average resale price of a house in the San Fernando Valley eased about 2% in October to $305,500 from September’s record price of $311,900, the San Fernando Valley Board of Realtors said Monday.

The latest average price was still 14% higher than the $268,900 average resale price in October, 1988.

The number of house resales increased 2% to 1,048 in October from 1,025 in September. But the sales volume was still dramatically lower than in October, 1988, when 1,451 houses were resold.

The average resale price of a condominium, meanwhile, edged up only slightly, by about 1%, to $153,000 in October from $151,800 in September. That was about 15% higher than the average resale price of $133,000 set in October, 1988.

Condominium resales climbed 9% from September to October, from 408 to 444. The resale volume of condominiums was also up about 6% from October, 1988, when 418 condominiums were resold.

The combined number of houses and condominiums available for resale in the Valley, at 11,237, was almost unchanged from September’s record level of 11,245. That supply of houses and condominiums was 55% higher than October, 1988’s level of 7,246.

Rates on standard, fixed-rate 30-year mortgages were largely unchanged, with most banks and S&Ls; in the area offering the loans at about 10% to 11%.

Sales picked up slightly because prices moderated to more reasonable levels, according to the realty board’s executive vice president, Jim Link. “People realized that if they wanted to sell they had to get their prices in line with the new reality.”

Link predicted that average prices would rise only 10% in 1990, far less than the 27% increase of 1988. Prices have increased about 9% in the first ten months of 1989.

The Valley realty board, California’s largest, reports sales of houses and condominiums by its members in the area from North Hollywood to Agoura. Its figures do not include most new residences, which are generally not sold by real estate agents, or sales by homeowners who sell their homes without agents.

OCT VALLEY HOUSE SALES

North Central- Average price: $337,500, Sales: 134

Northeast- Average price: $177,200, Sales: 181

Southeast- Average price: $307,400, Sales: 282

South Central- Average price: $347,400, Sales: 156

Southwest- Average price: $351,200, Sales: 248

Northwest- Average price: $315,900, Sales: 47