Economic Jitters Keeping Housing Sales in a Slump : Real estate: October figures are down 24% from a year earlier. An official doubts that lower interest rates would offset buyers’ apprehensiveness.
Recession fears continued in the local housing market in October, with sales of existing single-family houses and condominiums tumbling 24% from a year earlier, the San Fernando Valley Board of Realtors reported Monday.
Housing prices also continued dropping. The average resale price of a detached single-family house last month was $281,100, down 5% from $295,600 in September and 2% lower than the $288,000 average of a year earlier.
Despite a steady drop in mortgage interest rates, housing sales have been sluggish for most of this year. Sales were expected to stay lackluster last month because of a seasonal slowdown, but the sputtering economy exacerbated the market’s weakness.
“Sales typically slow down about this time of year as holidays approach, but the fear and hesitancy caused by the double-dip recession unquestionably dragged the October sales lower than usual,” board President Steve Owen said in a statement.
Owen’s “double-dip” description refers to speculation that the national economy is slipping back into recession after an apparently short-lived attempt to begin expanding again. California’s economy has been additionally undermined by widespread layoffs in the aerospace and defense industries, poor retail spending and problems stemming from the state’s big budget deficit.
“Further drops in interest rates may trigger a little more activity, but not enough to offset the concerns people still have about the condition of the state’s economy,” Owen said.
A total of 791 existing single-family houses and condominiums were sold in October, compared with 980 in September and 1,045 a year earlier, the board said.
Sales of single-family houses alone last month totaled 633, down 17% from the previous month and 18% lower than a year earlier. Condominium sales, at 158, dropped 28% from September and plunged 41% from October, 1990.
The Valley’s inventory of housing, meanwhile, remained near record levels. The board said 13,960 houses and condominiums were listed for sale last month, down 2% from September but still 7% higher than a year earlier.
The median resale price of a single-family house in October was $225,000, meaning half the houses sold for more than that price and half sold for less. The median was down 2% from $229,000 in September, and it slipped 1% from $226,900 a year earlier.
The Valley realty board, the largest in California, reports housing sales by its members in the area from Agoura to North Hollywood. Its statistics do not include sales of most new residences.
October Valley House Sales North West: Avg. Price: $240,200 Sales: 42 North Central: Avg. Price: $295,300 Sales: 71 North East: Avg. Price: $173,200 Sales: 116 South West: Avg. Price: $321,300 Sales: 197 South Central: Avg. Price: $286,300 Sales: 83 South East: Avg. Price: $320,100 Sales: 124
