Home Values in L.A. County Surge 14.6%

Home values in Los Angeles County grew faster than anywhere in the nation during the last three months, as the robust economy produced strong gains throughout the state’s largest metropolitan areas, according to a national survey released Wednesday.

In Los Angeles County, home values in the second quarter surged 14.6% over the same period last year, moving up nearly three times as fast as the national average, according to First American Real Estate Solutions, an Anaheim-based real estate research firm.

It was the second consecutive quarter in which Los Angeles has led the nation.

The economy is helping to fuel the price surge, creating six new jobs for each new home being planned, according to another recent survey. Apartment rents also have reached record highs throughout the region.

Other Southern California areas that ranked in the top 10 in rising home values were the Inland Empire, fifth, with a 10.8% increase; Orange County, eighth, up 8.5%, and San Diego County, ninth, up 8.2%.

Other metropolitan areas in the state also ranked high.

In San Francisco, home values moved up 11.6%, the third-fastest growth rate in the nation. Oakland ranked seventh at 9.4%, and Sacramento ranked 10th, up 8.2%.

Throughout the nation, home values gained an average of 5.3% in the quarter.

The figures confirm that Orange County, which led the region’s housing recovery and had the fastest growth rate last year with an 18% increase in home values, has been overtaken by Los Angeles as well as the Inland Empire--Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

“The recovery has spread out,” representing a major change of events in parts of the Southland now showing double-digit gains, said Nima Nattagh, the analyst who compiled the study. “It’s a testament to the fact that Southern California and Los Angeles have turned the corner.”

Although many homes throughout the Southland have regained the values they lost during the slump earlier in the decade, Nattagh noted, home values in Los Angeles remain 10% below the levels of 1990. In the Inland Empire, values are still 15% below 1990 levels.

In San Diego County, homes have gained 11% in this decade and in Orange County, 6%. By contrast, home values in a leading area such as Portland, Ore., have streaked ahead 131%. In Denver, values have shot up 119% in the decade.

The survey analyzes prices of homes that sold at least twice since 1990. Overall, 7 million homes nationwide were analyzed in the survey, including 728,000 in Southern California.

In Los Angeles County, much of the appreciation has been registered in Santa Monica, Beverly Hills and other prosperous Westside communities, according to the survey.

With interest rates edging higher, Nattagh said, prices will begin to moderate in affluent areas that draw fewer buyers and show greater growth inland, where more people can find lower prices.