Home Sale Closings Fall to 3-Year Low, Report Says : Real estate: But since January, on which the reported is based, sales are starting to pick up again, observers say.

January home sale closings in Orange County fell to the lowest level in at least three years, dropping 15% to 2,760 units from 3,247 in January, 1990, TRW Real Estate Information Services reported Friday.

The data service also reported that the average price for a home that closed escrow in the county last month was $242,953, down 4.1% from $253,466 a year earlier. It was the first time since January, 1988, when TRW began keeping records on the county’s sales, that the monthly total for Orange County dropped below 3,000.

But the figures represent closed escrows, meaning most of the sales agreements were made in October and November--the months immediately after Iraq invaded Kuwait and economists began announcing that the U.S. economy had dropped into a mild recession.

Home builders and resale real estate agents say that sales have picked up since mid-January, when the U.S.-led United Nations coalition forces attacked Iraq. The outbreak, they say, removed a cloud of uncertainty and helped propel consumers back into the market.

“January sales openings in my office were the best since August, 1990,” said Allan Gantt, owner of Century 21 Accent Realty in Fullerton.

Gantt, who is vice chairman of the Orange County Council of Real Estate Boards, said he has heard similar reports from real estate agents around the county.

“September through December were pretty poor months,” he said, “but there’s been a definite increase since then.”

Escrows that opened in January will show up in TRW’s reports for March and April and Gantt said he would expect those months to show a marked improvement.

The TRW figures include new and resale homes and condominiums, with resale homes making up the bulk of the total.

In January, only 342 new homes closed escrow, down 7.8% from 371 in January, 1990. The average new home price of $274,151 was down a scant 0.9% from $276,774 a year earlier.

New home closings were down 53.7% from December’s total of 739 sales, while the average price was up 2.4% from $267,804.

The 2,418 resale homes that closed escrow last month represented a 15.9% decline from 2,876 in January, 1990, according to the report. The average resale price of $234,578 was down 5.6% from $248,489 a year earlier.

January resale closings declined 1.1% from 2,444 in December and the average price was up 1.2% from $231,793.

Realtors say the price drops are a healthy sign because it means home sellers are adjusting their expectations and pricing their homes to move in a recession.