Valley Won’t Escape Housing Slump This Year : Real estate: Single-family home sales fall 14% in November from ’94. But condominium activity surges 40%.

Expectations that 1995 might be a turnaround year for Valley real estate were dashed Monday with the release of data that showed a continued sluggishness in the single-family home market.

Although condominium sales improved, sales of single-family homes in the San Fernando Valley fell 14% in November from a year ago. Prices were down, too, falling 4.7% to $210,100, from $220,500 last year.

The year-end figures disappointed those in the industry.

“Resale activity was on track for an . . . increase until September, when the wind went out of the sails,” said Jim Link, executive vice president of the San Fernando Board of Realtors. He blamed a dearth of consumer confidence for slowing sales throughout the region this fall.

The median price of a single-family home was also down 11.4% to $155,000 from $175,000 in November a year ago. The median price was 2.5% lower than October’s average price of $159,000, according to the Realtors’ group.

The median is the point at which half the homes sold for more and half for less.

Real estate agents had predicted that the hard-hit Valley market would show about a 4% recovery in single-family home sales by the end of this year, said board President Pat A. Zicarelli. Instead, Zicarelli said, it appears that the Valley’s slump continued through 1995. Sales of single-family homes will probably end about 4% lower than last year’s.

A total of 781 such homes closed escrow in November compared to 908 in November 1994. November’s figures also lagged behind October’s sales of 785.

For months now, most of the activity in local real estate has been at the cheaper end of the market. In November, 54% of the 981 single-family homes and condominiums that closed escrow were priced under $160,000, Zicarelli said.

In contrast to homes, condominium sales in November surged 40% from November of last year, continuing a trend of several months.

In November, 200 condominiums closed escrow, compared to 143 in the same period last year.

Yet although condos sold briskly, sales prices were soft. November’s average price was $110,600, down 5% from last year. The median price fell 5.4% to $96,000 from $101,500 in November 1994.

Zicarelli attributed strong condominium sales to improvements in quality of the Valley’s condominium stock, thanks to extensive remodeling after the Northridge earthquake, and to low prices that have made ownership of some condominiums comparable to the cost of renting an apartment.

The San Fernando Realtors group, the largest in the state, reports housing sales monthly by its 6,800 members from North Hollywood to Calabasas.

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May Valley Home Sales

NORTH WEST

Avg. Price: $199,000

Sales: 1699

NORTH EAST

Avg. Price: $127,700

Sales: 110

SOUTH WEST

Avg. Price: $233,500

Sales: 154

SOUTH CENTRAL

Avg. Price: $210,600

Sales: 133

SOUTH EAST

Avg. Price: $237,700

Sales: 128