SIMI VALLEY : February Housing Sales Fall 22%

Wet weather and rising interest rates slowed the Simi Valley housing market in February, a report released Friday showed.

The 80 residences that closed escrow last month represented a 22% drop from the previous February, when 103 housing units were sold in the Simi Valley area, the Simi Valley-Moorpark Assn. reported.

“Realtors would have sold more homes . . . if only we had a larger inventory of homes to sell, if only interest rates had been lower, and if only the weather had been more favorable,” association President Shanon Wolf said.

Housing sales for the entire county dropped 10% during the same period.

The average residence sold for $194,285, down 6.8% from the same period the previous year.