Home Sales and Prices Continue Rise
Ventura County home sales and prices rose to dramatic heights last month, edging the local home market closer yet to records set before the recession.
Rising to their highest mark since March 1989, the number of home sales grew to 1,418 in June, nearly one-third higher than the number recorded in June 1997. Median prices also rose to $219,000, a 4.3% increase over the same month last year and the highest since June 1991.
According to a monthly report by the La Jolla-based research firm Acxiom/DataQuick, three of the county’s hottest markets were east Camarillo, Simi Valley, and south Thousand Oaks, each posting sizable increases in both sales and prices.
Simi Valley Realtor Shanon Wolf said the figures are no surprise. “Prices have been going up 5 to 7% a month,” she said. “It’s just incredible.”
Given current trends, county housing prices could surpass the record set before the recession--a countywide median price of $241,000 recorded in August 1989--by the end of the year, said Acxiom analyst John Karevoll.
“Most of the homes in Ventura County have regained the value they lost during the recession, but not all homes have,” he said. “The lost value could be regained sometime this fall.”
The boom will probably continue until at least the end of the year, Karevoll said.
“There’s virtually no chance that price increases are going to level off this year,” he said. “They’re not going to go crazy, but they’re certainly going to go up.”
Camarillo real estate broker Harry Platt agreed that prices will probably rise, but he predicted that prices would not equal pre-recession records for at least another 18 months.
“It’s a very good time for buyers to jump in right now,” he said. “We haven’t reached what sale prices were nine years ago.”
The current boom is spurred by several factors, analysts and real estate experts say. First, interest rates are low, increasing demand by making it easier for lenders to buy a home.
The second factor is a dwindling supply of new and existing homes in the county.
“Supply is getting pretty tight,” said Bob Bray, an analyst with the Meyers Group, a real estate research firm. According to a report released Tuesday by the firm, new-home inventory fell to 213 in June, a 36% drop from the March figure.
Slow growth in home construction could cause prices to increase even more next year, Bray warned.
“I think enough is coming on line, with new projects that builders have in the pipeline, to supply the market this year,” he said. “I think the trouble could come in 1999.”
The Acxiom report, which includes resale and new homes and condominium sales, showed growth across the county. Among the hot spots:
* In south Thousand Oaks, already one of the most expensive markets in the county, the median home price rose $52,000 to $297,000 in June, a 21% increase over last year’s figure.
* In east Camarillo, the median price grew to $230,000, a nearly 18% increase over last year’s figure. Total sales also grew 64% to 97 homes sold in June.
* East Simi Valley registered a nearly 16% increase in median price versus last year, raising that figure to $206,000 in June. Total sales grew more than 57% to 104 homes.
* The median home price in west Simi Valley grew to $225,000 in June, an 18% increase over June 1997.
(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)
Ventura County House Sales
*--*
June 1997 June 1998 Number Median Number Median City/ZIP Code of sales price of sales price CAMARILLO 93010 64 $211,000 88 $217,000 93012 59 $195,000 97 $230,000 FILLMORE 93015 10 $162,000 13 $120,000 MOORPARK 93021 69 $240,000 89 $218,000 OAK PARK 91301 36 $257,000 47 $317,000 OAK VIEW 93022 10 $275,000 13 $200,000 OJAI 93023 24 $220,000 38 $218,000 OXNARD 93030 80 $178,000 89 $171,000 93033 31 $123,000 56 $138,000 93035 34 $198,000 58 $200,000 PORT HUENEME 93041 27 $118,000 32 $138,000 SANTA PAULA 93060 19 $137,000 37 $153,000 SIMI VALLEY 93063 66 $178,000 104 $206,000 93065 127 $190,000 157 $225,000 THOUSAND OAKS 91320 99 $241,000 94 $263,000 91360 67 $229,000 106 $233,000 91361 25 $245,000 41 $297,000 91362 89 $310,000 105 $318,000 VENTURA 93001 33 $166,000 45 $178,000 93003 56 $191,000 60 $184,000 93004 44 $203,000 49 $204,000 COUNTY LINE / CANYON AREA 90265 -- -- 2 $199,500 COUNTYWIDE 1,069 $210,000 1,418 $219,000
*--*
Source: Acxiom / DataQuick Information Systems
