Median Home Price Up from April, but Down From May, ’94 : Sales: A total of 953 houses were sold in May, up 13% from the month before but down from a year ago. Realtors blame slow market on quake-damaged properties.
Prices of existing single-family houses in the San Fernando Valley remained stuck at eight-year lows in May, while sales activity declined compared to last year.
The median sales price for existing homes--the point at which half the houses sold for more and half for less--rose $2,000 from April to May, to $172,000. But last month’s median was down 3% from a year earlier--when the median was $177,000--making it the lowest mark for the month of May since 1987, according to the San Fernando Valley Assn. of Realtors.
Existing single-family homes in the Valley sold for an average of $212,300 last month, down 9% from $232,300 in the same month a year earlier, and $4,100 below the average sales price in April.
Pat Zicarelli, president of the Valley realty association, attributed the sinking prices to an abundance of damaged and bank-owned properties as a result of last year’s Northridge earthquake. “There will continue to be pressure on prices so long as we’re saddled with quake-damaged property and an inventory of property held by lenders,” Zicarelli said.
A total of 953 houses were sold in May, up 13% from 841 sales recorded in the previous month, but down 15% from May, 1994, when 1,127 sales closed escrow.
Jim Link, executive vice president of the Valley realty association, said comparisons to May, 1994, are misleading because that month’s sales statistics were inflated by a surge in escrow closures that had been delayed in the weeks and months following the January, 1994, Northridge earthquake. The market slowed in the days and weeks following the quake, Link said, and many sales were delayed until buyers and lenders could inspect property damage.
The market for condominiums mirrored that of single-family houses last month, as sales activity climbed while prices dropped.
The median sales price of a condo was $96,000 last month, down 18% from $117,000 in the same month a year earlier, and 9% below the $105,500 median recorded in April. The average sales price of a condo was $106,700, down 14% from $124,100 a year earlier, and $3,900 below the $110,600 average recorded in April.
The falling prices sparked sales activity, however, as 155 condo sales were recorded last month, down by one sale from April’s total of 156, but up 16% from the 134 sales reported in May, 1994.
The Valley realty association, the largest in California, reports housing sales by its 7,200 members from North Hollywood to Calabasas. Its figures generally do not include sales of new residences.
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May Valley Home Sales
NORTH WEST Avg. Price: $217.600 Sales: 49
NORTH CENTRAL Avg. Price: $196,600 Sales: 151
NORTH EAST Avg. Price: $134,200 Sales: 141
SOUTH WEST Avg. Price: $256,600 Sales: 271
SOUTH CENTRAL Avg. Price: $222,200 Sales: 128
SOUTH EAST Avg. Price: $211,400 Sales: 213
