Home Sales Up 26.2% in First Eight Months of the Year : Real estate: The increase suggests rising mortgage rates are not having any major impact, an analyst says.

Sales of new and existing homes were up 26.2% in Orange County during the first eight months of this year, according to figures released Tuesday by TRW REDI Property Data.

Sales were up more than 20% throughout Southern California, a signal that a recent hike in mortgage rates has not slowed a recovery in home sales, said Nima Nattagh, market analyst with Riverside-based TRW, a real estate data company.

“Orange County has been doing better than the other counties for about three to four months now--most of that is new home sales,” Nattagh said. “The numbers are suggesting that the recent rise in mortgage rates isn’t having much of an impact, but it remains to be seen whether it will.”

During the first eight months of the year, 24,380 homes were sold in Orange County, compared to 19,321 homes sold during the same time last year.

Home sales in Los Angeles County increased 18.6% during the first eight months of this year from last year. In Southern California, more than 138,000 single-family homes and condominiums closed escrow between January and the end of August, compared to 115,382 during that same time last year.

Home Sales Increase

Orange County’s new and existing home sales for the first eight months of 1994 jumped 26.2% and the average price edged up 0.2% compared to the same period a year ago. Percentage changes in region compared to 1993:

County Sales Price Los Angeles 18.6% -1.3% Orange 26.2 0.2 Riverside 23.5 -0.8 San Bernardino 15.4 -2.5 San Diego 20.7 2.9 Ventura 19.0 -2.3 Southern 20.4 -0.2 California

Source: TRW REDI Property Data; Researched by JANICE L. JONES / Los Angeles Times