Value of Homes in Valley Up 19% From a Year Ago

The San Fernando Valley’s housing market continued its rousing comeback in April as the average sales price for a single-family home shot up 19% from a year ago, while more houses were sold last month in the Valley than in any month since May 1989.

“The appetite for housing is simply insatiable,” said Bud Mauro, president of the Southland Regional Assn. of Realtors. “Today’s low inventory is the only brake holding sales in check.”

Last month, the average sales price of a Valley house climbed to $259,100, compared with $218,400 a year earlier. Last month’s average, though, fell slightly from the $260,900 average in March.

All told, 1,222 single-family homes changed hands last month, up 28% from the 953 sold in April 1997.

The median price for a single-family house also rose last month, 13%, to $185,000, up from $163,500 a year earlier. (The median sales price means that half the homes sold last month cost more than $185,000.) In March, the median sales price was $180,000.

Despite the recent upturn in prices, last month’s average sales price was still 14% below the $303,100 average single-family house price that was paid in April 1990, a decrease that does not factor in inflation.

The condominium market also continued to improve in April, as average sales prices rose 29% to $121,800, compared with $94,300 in April 1997. Median sales prices for condos also rose last month to $107,500, up 27% from $85,000 a year earlier. In March, the median condo sales price was $104,000.

A total of 292 condos sold last month, down 6% from the 309 that sold a year earlier.

The local realty group noted that pending escrows of houses and condos ready to be sold totaled 1,714 in April, down 6% from the 1,818 in March. But the association noted that this followed two consecutive months in which pending escrows set record highs.

Another indicator of the quickening housing demand is that 4,121 single-family houses were listed for sale at the end of April, down 21% from a year ago, while condo listings in late April totaled 795, down 30% from a year earlier.

The data provided by the local realty group generally track resales of properties and not new housing sales.