O.C. Leads Jump in Southland Real Estate Sales : Economy: A heartening 3,772 homes were sold in Orange County in March, a 49% increase from February. Los Angeles County posted a 35% increase.
Southland real estate sales--led by a strong performance in Orange County--surged in March, with the five-county region hitting its highest level in five months, according to a survey released Friday.
The new data, based on sales contracts initiated in December, January and early February, show Orange County leading the region with a 49% increase in closings from February, or a total of 3,772 sales, according to TRW Real Estate Information Services.
Los Angeles County, with 8,957 closed escrows, was second, with a 35% increase from February.
And while sales were still down from a year earlier, the 14% decline in Orange County from March, 1990, was the smallest year-to-year drop since October.
Real estate specialists have been predicting an improvement in home sales since mid-January, when the Persian Gulf War began.
The favorable news from the Persian Gulf was expected to bolster consumer confidence and, combined with lower prices and builders’ incentives on new homes, to unleash pent-up demand for housing.
“All the evidence, first anecdotal and now with these first statistics, shows that sales are starting to rise,” said Dave Ross, marketing director for the TRW unit.
Ross said he was especially encouraged by the fact that average sales prices are not increasing appreciably.
Although that can be bad news for people trying to sell homes purchased within the past two years, most industry specialists say annual appreciation rates of 20% and more in the late 1980s helped drive buyers out of the market last year.
The average price of a home that closed escrow in Orange County in March was $235,378. That price--highest in the five-county region--was down 3% from $241,993 a year earlier and off 5% from $247,060 in February.
The March price average for the five counties--Orange, Los Angeles, San Diego, Riverside and San Bernardino--was $210,002, down 2% from a year earlier but virtually unchanged from February’s $210,160.
The TRW report shows that 3,233 resale homes were sold in Orange County last month, down 13% from 3,732 a year earlier but up 47% from 2,201 sales in February. The average March resale price of $232,833 was down 1% from $234,833 a year earlier.
Builders sold 539 new homes in the county in March, down 17% from a year earlier but up 64% from 329 sales in February. The average sales price of $244,042 was down 9% from $268,501 a year earlier and off 11% from February’s $274,923.
HOUSING MARKET IN ORANGE COUNTY AVERAGE HOME PRICE
Average sale price for new and resale houses and condominiums.
Aug. 1989: $254,356
March 1991: $235,378 MONTHLY HOME SALES
Total sales of new and resale houses and condominuims
Aug. 1989: 3,694
March 1991: 3,772
Source: TRW Real Estate Information Services.
