Quake May Be Behind 8.6% Drop in Home Sales
The earthquake may have derailed Ventura County’s housing comeback at least temporarily.
Sales of new and existing homes in the county fell 8.6% in January, according to TRW REDI Property Data’s monthly report.
Sales decreased to 444 from 486 in January, 1993. The average sales price was $219,747 in January, down 2% from a year earlier.
The sales dip may have been caused by lenders requiring reinspections of homes whose sales were pending prior to the quake, notes Joe Brown Sr., chairman of Brown Realtors in Thousand Oaks.
“However, we’ve seen a nice rebound in February, so I don’t consider the January decline meaningful,” Brown said.
Los Angeles County, with a year-to-year drop of less than 1%, was the only other Southern California county to show reduced sales in January.
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