New-Home Prices Rise 4% in a Year : Real estate: The average jumps to $276,100 in April, a survey shows, from $266,184 in April, 1991. The figures defy a downward Southland trend and could mean inflation has resumed in the county market.

In an ominous sign for home buyers, new-home prices in Orange County bucked the Southland’s downward trend by rising in April almost 4% from a year earlier--raising the possibility of ever-growing price tags in months to come.

Resale prices in the county rose as well, though at a much more modest pace of 0.5%.

Over the past year, falling home prices have been one of the few benefits the recession has brought to the county, one of the nation’s most expensive real estate markets. While it may take more than a few months of higher prices to confirm a change in that trend, builders hope that this could be the start.

The report Friday from TRW Redi Property Services shows that the average new-home price in the county jumped to $276,100 in April, from $266,184 a year earlier.

The new-home price boost marks the second consecutive monthly increase from the previous year. The average price in March was up 1.9% from a year earlier. And the April average is the highest monthly average for new homes in the county since the $278,039 reported in February, 1991.

The lack of a large supply of new homes is the main reason that prices shot up, industry analysts said.

Builders have been warning for months that even the tepid demand in today’s market could soon outstrip supply, because credit and economic conditions are preventing them from starting new projects.

“That the inventory of new homes is decreasing and bringing a balance to the supply-demand situation is the only reason I can see for the increase” in new-home prices in the county, said Nima Nattagh, market research analyst for TRW Redi in Riverside.

Nattagh cautioned that it is difficult to predict a trend based on one or two months of data. “This all could be just a statistical glitch,” he said.

If not, however, the higher prices could bring some degree of relief for recession-strapped builders, even as they pinch consumers’ pocketbooks.

New-home sales in the county dropped 27.5% in April, to 473 units from 653 a year earlier.

The decline was caused in part by lower demand. But a bigger cause, industry analysts say, is that builders simply cannot obtain financing to start enough projects even to keep up with today’s lower demand.

The only other new-home price increase in Southland counties occurred in Riverside, where April’s average of $169,480 was up 1.5% from a year earlier. New-home sales in Riverside fell 8.7% from April, 1991.

The equation did not hold true in Los Angeles County, where the average new-home price dropped 6.3% to $217,955 at the same time that new-home sales dropped 31.8%, to 516 units.

But the inventory of built and unsold new homes in Los Angeles County is far larger than in Orange County, thus relieving the pressures forcing Orange County prices up, said industry consultant Philip Bettencourt of Bettencourt & Associates in Newport Beach.

TRW Redi surveys recorded deeds in Orange, Los Angeles, San Diego, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties each month for its reports on Southland home sales and prices.

The average new-home price for the entire six-county region in April was $209,017, down 5.2% from April, 1991, while the average resale home price of $219,404 was off 0.8%.

But resale home prices in Orange County rose along with new-home prices in April, climbing to an average of $244,696, from $243,481 in April, 1991. The number of resale transactions in the county dropped 9.2%, to 2,483 from 2,737 a year earlier.

Because resales make up most of the county’s residential sales activity, the overall average price of all homes sold in the county last month was $249,906, up 0.8% from the year-earlier average of $247,941.

News on the Home Front Prices for new homes in Orange County were up an average 0.8% in April from last year. The number of new homes sold was down 27.5%, however. The price of existing homes fell 12.8% from a year ago. County Comparison The county barely edged out Los Angeles County as having the most expensive average home price in Southern California.

County Average Price Number Sold Orange $249,906 2,956 Los Angeles 249,337 6,789 Riverside 161,664 2,050 San Bernardino 138,178 2,175 San Diego 206,030 2,661

Buying New vs. Resale In all counties except Los Angeles, it cost more to buy a new home than one that has been previously occupied.

County Existing-Home Price New-Home Price Orange $244,696 $276,100 Los Angeles 252,222 217,955 Riverside 158,613 196,480 San Bernardino 132,052 157,722 San Diego 203,015 223,622

Growth Areas Of all Southern California counties, Riverside sells the most new homes.

County Existing Homes Sold New Homes Sold Orange 2,483 473 Los Angeles 6,273 516 Riverside 1,518 532 San Bernardino 1,696 479 San Diego 2,283 378

Source: TRW Redi Property Services Inc.