Realtors See Reason for Optimism in O.C. Market

March home sales in Orange County slid nearly 20% compared to a year ago, but the California Assn. of Realtors said Wednesday that a nearly two-year-long slump may be easing.

House prices dropped 3% from a year ago, from a median $246,000 to $238,600 this year.

The trade group also reported that home sales statewide were down from a year ago, although the decline of 14.5% was smaller than in Orange County.

The median price of homes statewide, however, rose 3% from a year ago, from $196,800 to $202,470.

While that news wasn’t so good, the trade group said that a stronger-than-usual increase in sales between February and March means the market is looking up.

Sales usually rise during the traditional spring home-buying season. But this year they jumped 53% in Orange County between February and March. Last year, by contrast, sales rose only 25% during the comparable period.

The median price of a house rose nearly 1% last month from $236,720 in February.

“We’re seeing a very strong comeback,” said Leslie Appleton-Young, vice president of research for the trade group.

Still, the group forecasts a 10% drop in home sales statewide this year compared to 1990, another relatively weak year in which home sales dropped 17%.

Appleton-Young said she doesn’t see anything in Orange County that would indicate that 1991 sales locally would differ markedly from the statewide figures.

Rapid increases in home prices, which have made Orange County one of the most expensive markets in the nation, priced most would-be buyers out of the market in 1989. Then, in 1990, the recession and the Gulf War came along to knock more holes in home sales.

Things finally seem to be improving.

In Irvine, the Board of Realtors reported that March sales rose sharply from February and even outpaced sales a year ago.

“We’re incredibly busy,” said Daisy R. Wilson, the board’s executive vice president. “And every agent who walks in here says they’re just going crazy.”

March was the best month ever at Tarbell-Realtors, said Don Tarbell, chief executive officer of the Santa Ana-based brokerage.

“Last year wasn’t a very good year, but we think this one will be much different,” he said.

Across the state, sales also rose rapidly between February and March, and the median home price jumped 4% from February’s median $194,890.

The realtors association figures exclude new home sales, a smaller and generally more expensive corner of the market.

They also measure closings, which mean the sales actually reflect decisions that buyers made months earlier.

Resale Home Prices and Sales Here are figures compiled by local member boards of the California Assn. of Realtors on the median price and sales volume of existing single-family homes in Orange County. Median Price In thousands of dollars ‘91: $238,000 Sales Monthly percentage change ‘91: +53.3 Source: California Assn. of Realtors