REAL ESTATE : TRW Figures Give Graphic Picture of Home Sales Slump

There’s been a lot of talk about the residential real estate sales slump in Orange County in the last year, with the soaring price of homes here almost always listed as one big reason that things are slowing down.

Now, from TRW Real Estate Information Services come some hard numbers to back up that empirical reasoning.

A total of 61,422 homes--new, resale, single-family and condominium--were sold in Orange County in 1988. That’s nearly twice the total sold in either San Bernardino or Riverside counties and 10% more than sold in San Diego County.

The average selling price of an Orange County residence in ’88 was $212,000. While that was a lot more than San Bernardino’s $114,000, Riverside’s $119,000 or San Diego’s $161,000, it still provided for a lot of sub-$200,000 homes in the market.

But what a difference a year makes.

In 1989, more homes were sold in San Diego County than in Orange County and, while neither of its Inland Empire neighbors outstripped Orange County’s housing sales as a solo act, together they accounted for 72% more residences sold.

There were 46,809 homes sold in Orange County last year, versus 47,839 in San Diego, 42,148 in Riverside and 38,368 in San Bernardino.

A lot of things helped close the gap, of course, but money was way up there at the top of the list.

The average price of a home in Orange County in 1989 jumped to $250,415.

None of the others came close.

The San Diego County average was $186,750, Riverside’s was $136,600 and San Bernardino’s, $131,400.