Home Prices Up 14% From a Year Ago

If December follows a path established earlier this year, San Fernando Valley housing values will end the year at their highest levels since 1992, topping even last year when the local market roared back from the recession-inspired doldrums.

Figures released Monday on November home sales and values in the San Fernando Valley put the median price for a single-family home at $222,000, up nearly 14% over the November 1998 figure. Values regained some ground lost in October, when the median slipped to $205,000 as part of the year’s pattern in which one month’s gains typically were eroded the next.

But even with the elevator action, values this year have been above the $200,000 threshold in every month except January. It’s the first time Valley-area homeowners have been flush with that much equity since 1992, when every month topped $200,000, according to figures from the Southland Regional Assn. of Realtors.

The November median price is just a notch below the high point for the year--$225,000 in September. It’s 10.4% shy of the Valley’s high-water mark of $245,000 set during three months in 1989--a level some real estate experts say the Valley might see again next year.

“If everything continues at the pace we’re seeing now, I’d say it’s a fairly good guess that mid to late summer of next year we should be at that level again,” said Jim Link, executive vice president of the association.

November values were boosted by an unusually strong level of sales. Buyers closed escrow on 1,044 single-family homes, up a scant 3.2% from November 1998 but still the second-highest November on record. (Buyers purchased 1,216 single-family homes in November 1988, the November record.)

“People keep buying,” said Beth Sommer, president of the association. “And when people keep buying, prices keep rising. That 14% increase is really phenomenal.”

The Santa Clarita Valley posted double-digit drops in sales compared with last year, but single-family home prices continued to edge upward.

Single-family home sales dropped by nearly 17% to 182 compared with November 1998, and lost 9% from the previous month. Condo sales were down nearly 11% to 74 compared with a year ago and lost more than 41% compared with October.

“You’re looking at a market that was so hot, that sooner or later you had to see the laws of physics,” Link said. “What goes up . . .

“I suspect that Santa Clarita will remain an extremely healthy . . . market. But I think you’re going to see it be a little more consistent with the percentages that you see down here in the Valley,” he added.

Despite the slowdown in sales, single-family home values in the Santa Clarita region continued to best those in the San Fernando Valley, with November posting a median price of $236,000, up nearly 9% from November 1998. Condo prices remained steady at $135,000.

In the San Fernando Valley, the stepped-up activity in the market for single-family homes continues to boost business in the condominium market, which typically accounts for about 25% of local sales. In November, 346 condominiums changed hands, up 35.2% over a year ago and the highest condo sales tally for the decade, association figures show.

The median price for a condominium last month was $124,900, up 7% from both November 1998 and October of this year.

And while the supply of single-family homes continues to tighten, putting even more upward pressure on prices, the increased real estate activity has tempted proportionately more condo sellers into the market.

The number of new listings for single-family homes in the Valley dipped by 6.4% last month, compared with November 1998. At the same time, the number of new condos listed rose by just over 4%.

Even though home values in the Valley continue to lag their all-time highs, Sommer said that considering the impact of the recession earlier in the decade and the 1994 Northridge earthquake, the Valley real estate market has done surprisingly well.

“We’ve come back faster than I had anticipated,” she said. “I think the earthquake was a traumatic event that did a tremendous amount of damage to the area, both fiscally and mentally. I think that under the circumstances . . . the Valley has bounced back at a very fast rate.”