September Home Sales in County Jump 23%

Ventura County home builders are having a hard time keeping up with home buyers these days, with September sales showing a 23% increase over the same period last year, according to a report released Friday.

Last month, 1,055 homes were sold across the county, contrasted with 857 in September 1996. The figures include new and resale homes as well as condominiums.

The county’s median home price also inched up a solid 6% to $202,000 from $190,000 last year, according to the report by the La Jolla-based research firm Acxiom/DataQuick.

The latest sales information confirms that Ventura County’s once sluggish residential real estate market has not only continued its resilient recovery from the recession of the early 1990s, but is positioned to maintain such steady growth for the foreseeable future, said Acxiom/DataQuick analyst John Karevoll.

“These figures are the strongest we’ve seen in a decade and barring some crisis like a war, I think we’ll see the trend continuing,” Karevoll said.

Communities in the affluent section of east Ventura County continued to lead the home sales market with 551 homes sold, an increase of 36% contrasted with the previous year when 404 homes were sold.

“If we have one problem, it’s the lack of inventory,” said Kathy Mehringer, vice president of Fred Sands Brown Realty in Thousand Oaks. “But, as I’m sure any Realtor would say, it’s better than having a surplus.”

In Thousand Oaks, 283 homes were sold last month, contrasted with 205 in September 1996.

In Simi Valley, home sales climbed 20%, from 130 in September 1996 to 156 last month. In Moorpark, 72 home sales were reported last month, up from 46 over the same period in 1996.

Small but posh Oak Park, however, led the way, boasting a nearly 74% increase in reported home sales coupled with an 11% peak in median price to $278,000.

In the western half of Ventura County, Camarillo continued to lead the way with a 65% rise in homes sold last month. The market, however, was much softer in other parts of the county, but there were some bright spots.

Home sales in Ventura dipped to 112 in September, down from 141 during the same period last year. Despite that fall, the median home price in Ventura’s 93001 area code increased 94% to $255,000, up from $131,000.

In Ojai, home sales fell nearly 29%.

The overall flurry of activity in the residential housing market has area Realtors upbeat and optimistic that the trend will continue and allow them to make up for revenues lost during the recession.

But with so much demand in the market now, Karevoll said he expects to see the average price of homes jump as much as 6% in the next few months.

“There’s a lot of pent-up demand right now so the figures probably wouldn’t be affected much in the short term,” he said. “But that will also level out the market a bit, which is what we want to see.”

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County Home Sales

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Number of Average Number of Average City/ZIP code sales* price* sales** price** CAMARILLO 93010 39 $189,000 91 $217,000 93012 44 $220,000 46 $208,000 FILLMORE 93015 12 $131,000 10 $180,000 MOORPARK 93021 46 $226,000 72 $204,000 OAK PARK 91301 23 $250,000 40 $278,000 OAK VIEW 93022 11 $166,000 7 $152,000 OJAI 93023 28 $214,000 20 $206,000 OXNARD 93030 69 $186,000 68 $177,000 93033 33 $135,000 46 $138,000 93035 28 $173,000 42 $231,000 PORT HUENEME 93041 24 $121,000 39 $130,000 SANTA PAULA 93060 24 $127,000 23 $138,000 SIMI VALLEY 93063 69 $185,000 59 $167,000 93065 61 $173,000 97 $200,000 THOUSAND OAKS 91320 60 $215,000 73 $232,000 91360 52 $215,000 67 $224,000 91361 17 $309,000 27 $299,000 91362 76 $261,000 116 $298,000 VENTURA 93001 34 $131,000 26 $255,000 93003 58 $148,000 52 $152,000 93004 49 $192,000 34 $202,000 COUNTY LINE / CANYON AREA 90265 -- -- 2 $199,500 COUNTYWIDE *857 $190,000 1,055 $202,000

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* Sept., 1996

** Sept., 1997

Source: Acxiom / DataQuick Information Systems