Median Home Price Gains in March, but Sales Falter
For the second straight month, Ventura County’s housing market showed a new pattern in the residential real estate recovery:
Overall home sales dropped slightly, but the median home price rose slightly.
Last month, 884 homes were sold across the county, a 5.6% drop from March 1996, when 936 sales were registered, according to a report released Wednesday by La Jolla research firm Acxiom/DataQuick Information Systems.
Meanwhile, the median home price in Ventura County climbed to $197,000, a 4.2% increase from the same month in 1996.
Acxiom/DataQuick analyst John Karevoll said the combination of slower sales and higher prices indicates that the real estate market has come into balance.
Sales of entry-level homes priced lower than $150,000 are no longer dominating the market, as they did when the recovery began more than a year ago. At the same time, homes priced higher than $275,000 are taking a larger share of sales.
That trend is pulling up the median price, Karevoll said.
“Now what we have is a balanced market,” he said. “Entry-level, mid-level and [luxury] homes are selling. We have a lot of legs to stand on.”
Moreover, the decline in sales level is only modest, Karevoll said.
“That’s a leveling off from a very high sales rate,” he said. “We’re still at the highest sales rate since 1990. At some point, the sales surge levels off. . . . This sales level should continue to at least the end of the year.”
Last month’s home sales appeared evenly divided between the eastern and western parts of the county.
Thousand Oaks led the county with 220 sales, an increase from 184 in March 1996. In Simi Valley, 165 sales were recorded, compared with 167 the previous year. In Moorpark, 45 homes were sold, down from 57 a year earlier.
In Ventura, 99 homes were sold, compared with 127 in March of last year. Oxnard had 162 home sales, up from 142 a year earlier. In Camarillo, 105 homes were sold, compared with 126 in March 1996.
“It seems we probably had a little slower month [in March],” said Mary Hall of ReMax Professional Realtors in Thousand Oaks. “But we’ve had quite a bit of activity in the $500,000 and above market.”
Hall said real estate agents are trading stories about sales of expensive homes in such Conejo Valley communities as Oak Park, Westlake and North Ranch.
Realtor Judy Hoag of Paris & Associates in Ventura said she has sold several expensive properties in recent weeks, including a home in the Ventura foothills and another in Saticoy.
Hoag said prices for condominiums and entry-level homes have crept up slightly. Although interest rates for a 30-year mortgage have climbed above 8%, home financing still appears affordable, she said.
“As long as [prices] don’t rise too quickly, I think the strengthening of the market is good for everybody,” Hoag said.
The housing numbers include sales of old and new houses and condominiums.
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Ventura County House Sales
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March 1996 March 1997 Number Average Number Average City/ZIP Code of sales price of sales price CAMARILLO 93010 59 $190,000 61 $196,000 93012 67 $214,000 44 $200,000 FILLMORE 93015 16 $137,000 10 $117,000 MOORPARK 93021 57 $237,000 45 $245,000 OAK PARK 91301 35 $170,000 12 $263,000 OAK VIEW 93022 8 $218,000 5 $133,000 OJAI 93023 28 $190,000 26 $204,000 OXNARD 93030 71 $184,000 94 $187,000 93033 36 $141,000 32 $128,000 93035 35 $171,000 36 $197,000 PORT HUENEME 93041 25 $103,000 24 $106,000 SANTA PAULA 93060 21 $151,000 11 $162,000 SIMI VALLEY 93063 83 $174,000 76 $176,000 93065 84 $179,000 89 $192,000 THOUSAND OAKS 91320 64 $213,000 66 $255,000 91360 46 $228,000 60 $209,000 91361 19 $319,000 12 $258,000 91362 55 $263,000 82 $301,000 VENTURA 93001 29 $177,000 23 $160,000 93003 54 $165,000 51 $157,000 93004 44 $187,000 25 $177,000 COUNTYWIDE 936 $189,000 884 $197,000
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Source: Axciom / DataQuick Information Systems
