Southland Home Sales Rise in October for 3rd Month in Row

October home sales in Southern California showed a year-over-year increase for the third month in a row, while prices continued to drag along a bottom reached last spring, a real estate information service has reported.

A total of 16,209 new and resale houses and condos were sold in Los Angeles, Ventura, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties last month. That was up 4.8% from 15,470 for October of last year, according to DataQuick Information Systems, but down 4.5% from September’s 16,970.

A decline from September to October is normal for the season. Last month’s sales count was the highest for any October since 1990, when 17,933 homes were sold.

“With three straight months of sales increases, I think we can declare a trend. Although . . . it’ll take a while for perception to catch up with reality,” said Donald L. Cohn, DataQuick CEO.

The median price paid for a Southland home last month was $160,000. That was down 0.6% from the month before and down 3.6% from $166,000 for October last year. The median has been at the $160,000-$161,000 level since January, down 4.8% from last year.

So far this year, 154,608 Southland homes have been sold, down 10.4% from the first 10 months of 1994.

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Southland Home Sales in October

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County No. Sold No. Sold Pct. Med(K) Med(K) Pct. 10/94 10/95 Chng 10/94 10/95 Chng Los Angeles 6,210 6,570 5.8%. $166 $161 -3.0% Orange County 2,805 2,762 -1.5%. $207 $189 -8.7 pct. San Diego 2,308 2,438 5.6% $165 $165 0.0%. Riverside 1,642 1,812 10.4% $131 $126 -3.8% San Bernardino 1,695 1,798 6.1% $128 $122 -4.7 pct. Ventura 810 828 2.2% $186 $190 2.2% So. California 15,470 16,209 4.8% $166 $160 -3.6%

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