Condo Sales Brisk as Prices Drop to a 10-year Low : Housing: Single-family homes are moving slower. Some still trace the decline to the earthquake.

Sales of existing single-family homes in the San Fernando Valley continued to slow down last month, but condominium sales rose as buyers took advantage of the lowest average prices in a decade.

The median sale price for existing homes dropped to $169,500 in June, down 3.7% from $176,000 during the same period a year earlier, according to the San Fernando Valley Assn. of Realtors. The median price is the price at which half the houses sell for more and half for less.

The median price also reflected a 1.5% drop from $172,000 in May.

Existing single-family homes in the Valley sold for an average of $227,100 last month, down 1.2% from $229,800 a year earlier. The average price of homes brightened a bit last month, though, increasing 7% from the average price in May of $212,300.

“I fully expect to see an active, stable resale single-family market emerge as the effects of the quake dissipate and the benefit of lower interest rates takes hold,” said Pat A. Zicarelli, president of the Valley realty association. “People are emerging from the rubble of the quake, and 18 months later, thousands of homes have been refurbished, rebuilt and whole communities have been given a shot in the arm.”

In June, 945 houses were sold, down nearly 1% from the 953 transactions in May, and down 19% from the same period last year when 1,125 sales closed escrow.

The decline in escrows could also be traced to the earthquake, said Jim Link, the realty association’s executive vice president.

Link attributed the drop to “buyer concern over economic news such as reports of more military base closures and a budget crisis for Los Angeles County government.”

Meanwhile, bargain hunters snatched up condominiums as the average price dropped to $99,700, the lowest average since the association began keeping separate condo and single-family statistics in 1985. The mark was a 20.6% drop from the same period a year earlier when the average price of a condo was $119,700.

The lower prices translated into higher closed escrows, as 184 sales were recorded last month, compared to 146 for the same period last year. It is also up by 29 from May’s total of 155.

The median sale price for condominiums was $92,000 last month, down 18.3% from $112,600 from the same period a year earlier. In May, the median price was $96,000.

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June Valley Home Sales

NORTH WEST Avg. Price: $207.000 Sales: 46

NORTH CENTRAL Avg. Price: $199,000 Sales: 148

NORTH EAST Avg. Price: $135,500 Sales: 133

SOUTH WEST Avg. Price: $293,200 Sales: 254

SOUTH CENTRAL Avg. Price: $249,500 Sales: 148

SOUTH EAST Avg. Price: $214,000 Sales: 216