Southland Homes Sales Still on an Upswing

Home sales in Southern California in October continued at their strongest pace in six years as prices remained flat, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 18,505 new and resale houses and condos were sold in Los Angeles, Ventura, Orange, Riverside, San Diego and San Bernardino counties in October.

That was up 6.8% from 17,323 for the month before and up 13.4% from 16,320 for October last year, according to DataQuick Information Systems of La Jolla, an Acxiom company.

So far this year 162,096 homes have been sold in the region, up 17.1% from 138,400 for the same period last year.

The year-to-date number is the highest since 219,950 were sold during the first 10 months of 1990.

The year-to-date sales increase has been strongest in Orange County, where sales are up 23.8%. The lowest rate of increase has been in Los Angeles County, where sales are up 11.8% year-to-date.

The median price paid last month for a Southern California home was $160,000. That was down 0.6% from $161,000 for the month before and the same as a year ago.

The year-to-date median is $160,000, the same as last year.

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Home, Condo Sales and Prices

Chart compares sales of single-family homes and condos for 1995 and 1996 with their median prices and percent of change. *--*

#Sold #Sold Pct. Med($K) Med($K) Pct. Oct. 95 Oct. 96 Chang. Oct. 95 Oct. 96 Chg. Los Angeles 6,570 7,629 16.1% $161 $161 0.0% Orange County 2,762 2,849 3.1% $189 $191 1.1% San Diego 2,438 2,736 12.2% $165 $171 3.6% Riverside 1,812 2,171 19.8% $126 $123 -2.4% San Bernardino 1,910 2,229 16.7% $123 $123 0.0% Ventura 828 891 7.6% $190 $190 0.0% So. California 16,320 18,505 13.4% $160 $160 0.0%

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SOURCE: Dataquick Information Systems/Real Estate Observer