O.C. Home Sales Up in June Over Last Year

Orange County home prices fell slightly last month from the same time last year, but sales increased 11.6% during June, the third strongest month for home sales in nearly six years, according to figures released Monday.

June was the sixth consecutive month in which Orange County home sales have increased over those of the same month in 1995, a sign that the local real estate market continues to strengthen, said John Karevoll, an analyst with DataQuick Information Services Inc., which tracks home sale closings.

“Orange County’s housing market is certainly stronger than it’s been in a long time--it’s the closest thing to normal that we’ve seen,” said Karevoll. “While the sales increase in June wasn’t as strong as May, it was still very strong.”

Median values for new and existing homes, which have dropped about 20% during the last five years of California’s real estate downturn, fell to $196,000 in June, down $3,000, or 1.5%, compared to June 1995. Condominiums continued to be a drag on overall prices, Karevoll said, noting that prices for resale condominiums fell 4.1%.

That overall value drop in June comes on the heels of a 2.5% price climb in May over the previous May, DataQuick found.

Fluctuating mortgage rates, decreasing statewide inventory of homes and increasing consumer confidence are helping to boost the local housing market, analysts said.

“I hate to get overconfident, but it appears as if the Orange County market is getting stronger. The threats of higher interest rates are prompting many people to buy now,” said Larry Webb, a home builder and president of the Orange County Building Industry Assn., a trade group of builders. “June was really strong and so was the July 4th weekend.”

The rate on a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage in early April was 7.649% with two points. By early May, the rate had increased to 8.113% for the same mortgage, and by mid-June it was 8.22%, according to Mortgage News Co. in Santa Ana.

Because June home numbers track closings of sales that happen weeks earlier, mortgage rate spikes in May might have helped spur the increases in June.

“These few big jumps in May probably helped push some buyers into homes. All the fence-sitters dived in,” said Earl Peattie, publisher of Mortgage News Co.

Shiva Omni, a real estate agent at Century 21 Professionals in Irvine, said her office did 32% more business in June than last year. “It’s great. People realize that interest rates are most likely going to just go higher so the best thing is to buy now,” she said.

Buyers like Mick Meldrum, 38, and his wife, Carrie, decided to take the plunge in June on a four-bedroom home in Costa Mesa for $198,000. “We thought it was a good time because the market in the areas we were looking has bottomed out,” he said. “At least we hope it has.”

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Countywide Trends

Although June home sales dipped from those of the previous month, the 3,461 sales were the third-highest monthly total in the last five years. The median sales price was the lowest for any of the past five Junes.

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1995 Sales Median Price June 3,100 $199,000 July 2,540 198,000 Aug. 3,162 190,000 Sept. 2,803 193,000 Oct. 2,762 189,000 Nov. 2,669 195,000 Dec. 3,003 190,000 1996 Jan. 2,093 186,000 Feb. 2,359 189,000 March 3,060 187,000 April 3,411 192,000 May 3,865 198,000 June 3,461 196,000 June 1992 2,505 $212,000 1993 2,866 204,000 1994 3,632 206,000 1995 3,100 199,000 1996 3,461 196,000

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Source: DataQuick Information Services Inc.