Home Sales in July Up From ’89 Period, but Prices Down

Orange County home sales picked up in July from a year earlier, but the average selling price fell 2.3% in the same period, a real estate data service reported Thursday.

And despite the sales gain from July, 1989--a month in which sales activity was unusually low--homes in the county didn’t sell as fast last month as in June, according to TRW Real Estate Information Services.

In all, 4,024 new and resale homes and condominiums changed hands in the county last month, down 5.7% from 4,266 units in June, but up 17.6% from 3,421 units in July, 1989.

Sales last month were down almost 6% from June--they were off 26.6% from July, 1988--and analysts said there is no evidence of any significant change in the sluggish market.

Though sellers are lowering their asking prices and housing appreciation rates are falling throughout the state, economic uncertainties and, now, trouble in the Middle East, is encouraging buyers to postpone major purchasing decisions, said Allan Lubitz, director of communications for TRW Real Estate Information.

“It remains a buyer’s market,” Lubitz said, “but buyers aren’t biting.”

There is movement in sales price trends in the county, however--and in a direction realty specialists have said is necessary to help revive the stagnant sales pace.

Led by a $10,000 plunge in the average price of a resale home, the overall average price for a home sold in Orange County in July fell to $247,630. That was off 1.1% from June and down 2.3% from July, 1989.

The county was the only one of six Southland counties tracked by TRW in which average selling prices for July were down for the year.

Despite the dip, the average county home prices remained the highest in the region, ranging from 4.3% above the $237,442 reported for Los Angeles County to 82% above the San Bernardino County average of $136,201. In all, TRW reported, 3,397 resale homes closed escrow in Orange County last month, contrasted with 2,860 a year earlier.

In the new-home market, 627 units were sold during July, up 11.7% from 561 new units a year earlier.

The average July sales price of $258,640 was 3.9% higher than the year-earlier average of $249,015.

Sales of 899 condominium units during the month represented a 17.7% increase from 764 sales a year earlier. The average condo price of $169,020 last month was 4.7% higher than the July, 1989, average of $161,514.