Housing Cheers, Fears

Who should jump for joy over the news that sales of Ventura County homes leaped almost 20% and prices nearly 10% in December over the same time last year?

Realtors and mortgage brokers cheered the loudest when these figures were released last week. More sales and higher prices translate directly into bigger commissions for those in the business.

The state, too, wins as reassessments send more property tax money to Sacramento (even if all too little of it trickles back home).

But the big winners are the county’s homeowners. Some are still praying for the value of their home to climb back to what they paid for it before the recession. Others can rest a little easier, comforted by predictions that demand remains high and prices will continue to rise.

All can take satisfaction in this latest confirmation that the American Dream of owning your own home can bring personal financial well-being as well as being a symbol of independence and community roots.

But the bright light of this excellent news throws a few shadows.

In much of Ventura County, housing is already too expensive for many people who would like to live near their jobs. And growing concern over building additional homes on farmland or open space is sure to push prices still higher.

The news--both good and bad--is especially acute in Thousand Oaks.

Home sales in the Conejo Valley were 38% higher this December than last, with 310 homes sold. Yet also last week the Thousand Oaks City Council received the results of a yearlong study that shows a growing shortage of affordable housing.

From 1989 to 1996, according to data from the Southern California Assn. of Governments, the city estimated that 1,673 housing units were needed for low- and very-low-income people, but only 246 were built. An increasing number of workers are commuting into the former bedroom community from more affordable neighborhoods in western Ventura County or the San Fernando Valley.

Part of the solution is the low-cost rental units in a growing number of rehabilitated apartment buildings managed by the nonprofit group Many Mansions Inc. That organization last week received funding to upgrade one of its complexes and renovate another.

But there need to be affordable options for low-income home buyers as well. That’s the only way news of rising home prices can move more people to cheers and fewer to fears.