Home Sales Jump 23% in First Quarter, 1994

Sales of new and existing homes in Southern California jumped by more than 23% in the first quarter of 1994 compared to the same period last year, TRW REDI Property Data has reported. Orange County posted the strongest gain, 38%, followed by Riverside and San Diego counties.

The figures are a further sign that the Southland housing market is beginning to recover from the four-year slump, TRW REDI analyst Nima Nattagh said.

The new-home market has also shown significant improvement, Nattagh said. In the first quarter, 6,271 new homes were sold throughout Southern California--up 16.5% from a year ago. All counties in the region showed healthy increases in new-home sales, with the exception of Los Angeles County, where sales were down by 14.5%.

Sales prices remained flat in most areas of the region, Nattagh said. San Diego prices increased by slightly more than 4%.

Southland Home Sales

NUMBER OF ALL HOMES SOLD

County 1993 1994 Percent 1st Qrt. 1st Qrt. Change Los Angeles 14,659 16,731 14.1% Orange 5,577 7,691 37.9% Riverside 3,994 5,316 33.1% San Bernardino 4,236 5,208 22.9% San Diego 5,224 6,785 29.9% Ventura 1,612 1,907 18.3% S. California 35,302 43,638 23.6%

NUMBER OF NEW HOMES SOLD

County 1993 1994 Percent 1st Qrt. 1st Qrt. Change Los Angeles 1,278 1,093 -14.5% Orange 977 1,313 34.4% Riverside 1,121 1,411 25.9% San Bernardino 883 1,073 21.5% San Diego 901 1,102 22.3% Ventura 222 279 25.7% S. California 5,382 6,271 16.5% Average Selling Prices of All Homes Sold County 1993 1994 Percent 1st Qrt. 1st Qrt. Change Los Angeles 232,116 229,776 -1.0% Orange 240,663 238,846 -0.8% Riverside 146,507 147,494 0.7% San Bernardino 134,355 132,991 -1.0% San Diego 199,983 208,442 4.2% Ventura 228,255 225,845 -1.1% S. California 207,260 206,687 -0.3%