County Home Resale Pace Is Brisk, Though Total Declines : Housing: Market was especially strong compared to the same month a year ago. Neighboring counties show September increases.

Orange County homes on the resale market moved at a rapid clip in September, but figures released Tuesday by the California Assn. of Realtors seemed to suggest just the opposite.

The Los Angeles-based trade group--official record-keeper for single-family home resales in the state--said September sales in Orange County were down 10.6% from a year earlier. By comparison, the group reported, resales were up 15.4% in Los Angeles County and 15.8% in Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

What the trade group didn’t explain was that September, 1993, was one of the hottest months for resales in Orange County, with 29.6% more homes closing escrow than a year earlier. In Los Angeles County, sales were up a mere 2.5% from the same month of 1992.

Pat Neal, the Garden Grove realtor who heads the state trade association, said Tuesday that last month “was the second-best September for Orange County in the past five years,” with September, 1993, of course, having been the best.

Other figures released Tuesday by the realtor group showed the average price of a single-family resale home in Orange County at $215,990 for September, down 0.8% from a year earlier.

That put the cost of housing in Orange County in fourth place in the state, behind the San Francisco Bay Area ($256,350), Santa Clara County ($251,610) and Monterey County ($221,690).

Mixed Message

September’s single-family home resales in Orange County declined 10.6% from the same month last year. The median price also dipped a bit, but less than 1%. Price and sales activity changes are from September, 1993:

Median Price Sales County price change change Los Angeles $187,270 -4.7% 15.4% Orange 215,990 -0.8 -10.6 Riverside/San Bernardino 128,710 -3.0 15.8 San Diego 174,620 0.8 -6.6 Statewide $181,750 -2.0 -1.8

Source: California Assn. of Realtors