Improvements Indicated in Mid-Priced Housing Sales

Business is improving at some of Ventura County’s mid-priced housing tracts, but most prospective buyers still lack confidence about the future, reports Ernest V. Siracusa, a marketing researcher who closely follows the county’s home-building industry.

His Westlake Village firm, the Siracusa Co., produces a quarterly report tracking the sales of new homes; it is distributed by the Ventura office of Gateway Title Co.

“There are some pockets of activity, especially in newer developments where houses are priced between $250,000 and $350,000, but above that point, sales drop like a rock,” he said.

In this year’s third quarter, Siracusa said, 311 new houses and condominiums were sold in the county. That was a 14% drop from the 360 sold in the second quarter.

In the latest quarter, new homes in the county sold at an average price of $272,032--4% less than the $285,301 in this year’s second quarter and 5% below $288,855 in the third quarter of 1991.

Siracusa, who visited every tract in the county in preparing his report, said that thus far, prospective buyers have displayed little response to the presidential election results. “People still have a wait-and-see attitude. We’ll have to have specific evidence of economic change before home sales improve significantly.”