Valley Home Resales Up 3% from ‘91, in Spite of Storms : Housing: The realty board says February’s rains kept many shoppers indoors, causing a 12% decline from January.
Resales of San Fernando Valley residential real estate in February edged up 3% from a year earlier even though activity was dampened by strong winter rainstorms, the San Fernando Valley Board of Realtors said Monday.
Combined resales of existing single-family detached houses and condominiums rose to 553 in February from 535 a year earlier, when activity also was depressed by would-be home buyers focusing instead on the Gulf War.
But last month’s activity was down 12% from January as the heavy February rains and flooding in the Valley kept shoppers inside.
“History says February is always a slow month for real estate, but that’s especially true when winter storms wipe out more than a week of house hunting,” board President Lorrie Griffey said.
The board speculated that Valley housing sales are beginning to pick up steam, based on a gradual rise in “opened escrows,” or pending sales. The number of opened escrows climbed to 760 last month from 628 in January, the board said.
The relatively low level of mortgage interest rates, little change in housing prices and a continued glut of available houses for sale also bodes well for an increase in sales activity, the board said.
The average resale price of a detached, single-family house in February was $294,200, down 1% from $298,300 in January and virtually unchanged from a year earlier. The median price was $225,000 last month, unchanged from January and up 5% from a year ago. The median means half the houses sold for more than $225,000, and half sold for less.
About 80% of the properties resold last month were single-family houses, which indicates that the low mortgage rates are enabling more people to afford a detached house rather than a less-expensive condominium.
The board said 443 single-family houses were resold in February, down 10% from January but a 13% gain from a year earlier.
Condominium resales in February, meanwhile, tumbled 24% from a year earlier to 110 units, and were off 20% from the previous month, the board said. The average resale price of a condominium last month was $150,900, down 3% from January but up 6% from a year earlier.
The Valley realty board, California’s largest, reports housing sales from its 8,000 members in the area from Agoura to North Hollywood. Its statistics do not include sales of most new residences.
February Valley House Sales North West: Avg. Price: $282,400 Sales: 32 North Central: Avg. Price: $274,800 Sales: 77 North East: Avg. Price: $169,900 Sales: 72 South West: Avg. Price: $347,800 Sales: 110 South Central: Avg. Price: $394,600 Sales: 57 South East: Avg. Price: $285,600 Sales: 95
