REAL ESTATE : Visits to Model Homes Down 20% in 5-County Area Over 7 Months

Reporters who cover real estate these days are occasionally accused of being negative. With numbers like these, however, it’s hard to be upbeat:

Bonnie Benton of Benton & Associates in Laguna Niguel reports that the number of people who tromped through new-home model complexes during the first seven months of the year in Orange, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties was down 20% from the same period in 1991. That’s 1.8 million lookie-loos, down from almost 2.3 million. Net sales in the five-county area from January through July were down 21% to 21,330 from 26,956.

Benton’s company specializes in sales and traffic analyses for the residential real estate industry.

Orange County is faring better than most of the other areas so far this year--so far being through July 26--with net sales of 4,044 units, down 19% from 4,975 a year earlier.

San Diego and San Bernardino counties tied for the best-of-the-bad-news trophy in sales, each with a net decline of 18%. Hardest hit were Los Angeles County, where sales were down 25%, and Riverside County, with sales off 23%.

Is there any good news?

Well, people still like to look at the homes builders are offering in Orange County. Foot traffic at model complexes in the county was down only 2%, to 471,836 shoppers from 483,687 last year.

Los Angeles County took a firm hold of the bottom of the customer traffic list, with a 29% decline in the number of people looking at model homes there.

Second-to-last was Riverside County, with a 28% drop, followed by third-place San Diego County, a 22% drop, and San Bernardino County, in second place with a 21% drop.