County Housing Sales Up 18% From July to August
Ventura County housing sales shot up 18% from July to August, continuing an 18-month resurgence that has defied a rise in home mortgage rates, according to figures released Monday.
“We’re at the point where we don’t even have enough product anymore,” said Kathy White, an agent with Brown-Realtors in Westlake. “All the agents are complaining that there isn’t enough out there.”
Buyers continue to snap up homes at the fastest pace since the recession began in 1990, apparently undeterred by a 30-year fixed interest rate that has climbed nearly 2 percentage points in a year to just under 9%, according to TRW-REDI Property Data.
County homeowners sold 982 houses and condominiums in August, compared to 834 the month before and 832 in August, 1993, TRW-REDI reported.
Buyers seem to be spurred by bargain prices and by a fear that interest rates will surge even higher--not by an improving overall economy, some agents say.
“Those that are out there, they are a kind of now-or-never type, and that’s what concerns me,” said Bob Harrison, the manager of Ventura’s Coldwell Banker Town & Country. The supply of that kind of buyer is probably limited, he said.
UC Santa Barbara economist Mark Schniepp agreed that the “current real estate surge is temporary unless the economic situation changes.”
Without an increase in jobs, the real estate boom will falter, he said. There were 234,600 jobs countywide in August, down 300 from a year before.
County home sales increased by 19% during the first eight months of this year compared to the same period in 1993. That is about the same as in Los Angeles County and San Diego County, but less than in Orange County, which saw a 26.2% increase, and in Riverside County, where sales rose 23.5%.
Throughout the region, housing prices were almost unchanged from last year, TRW-REDI reported. In Ventura County, prices dropped about 2% from August, 1993, to August, 1994.
But some communities saw prices fall more dramatically. In Ojai, for example, prices for new and used single-family homes and condominiums fell by 17% between August, 1993, and August, 1994 to $226,250.
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“People are pretty hesitant,” said Carol Martin, an agent with Ojai’s Century 21 Hibberd Realtors. “Most of your buyers are looking for bargains.”
Few communities saw prices rise much. In Oak Park, however, the average home cost rose nearly $23,000 to $305,408 in August compared to the same month last year, the company reported. Whitesaid her company’s office is flooded with buyers looking to move to the fast-growing community east of Thousand Oaks.
“Most of it has to do with the fact that that school system over there has gotten so much publicity with their distinguished school awards over the last few years,” she said.
Among the county’s most affordable areas was Oxnard, where average prices ranged from $148,621 in south Oxnard to $248,846 in the Mandalay Bay community. The new figures show that home prices also averaged under $200,000 in Fillmore, Oak View, Port Hueneme, Santa Paula and mid-town Ventura.
Among the most expensive neighborhoods were eastern Thousand Oaks, Bell Canyon near Simi Valley and eastern Camarillo.
Ventura County House Sales
CITY August, 1993 August, 1994 ZIP Code No. sales Avg. price No. sales Avg. price CAMARILLO 93010 47 $228,863 52 $229,206 93012 38 $328,597 36 $319,786 93066 3 $286,667 0 n/a FILLMORE 93015 7 $167,071 13 $168,077 MOORPARK 93021 48 $242,311 63 $213,734 OAK PARK 91301 64 $282,571 65 $305,408 OAK VIEW 93022 3 $163,333 7 $174,500 OJAI 93023 25 $271,920 21 $226,250 OXNARD 93030 66 $194,680 62 $180,000 93033 35 $147,567 33 $148,621 93035 34 $229,470 28 $248,846 PORT HUENEME 93041 15 $157,607 29 $149,207 SANTA PAULA 93060 25 $168,978 21 $164,950 SIMI VALLEY 91311 1 (NA) (NA) 91307 2 $362,250 4 $566,955 93063 66 $286,667 69 $192,607 93065 100 $204,778 86 $207,20 THOUSAND OAKS 91362 46 $420,502 88 $349,535 91320 34 $239,727 49 $245,739 91360 56 $240,074 75 $226,450 91361 26 $368,820 33 $312,967 VENTURA 93001 27 $266,800 34 $268,355 93003 39 $190,222 49 $191,153 93004 21 $224,275 62 $220,468 COUNTYWIDE 832 $241,066 982 $236,388
