Home Sales Up Slightly Last Month in County
Sales of Ventura County homes rose only slightly last month, but analysts say a lack of housing--not a sluggish economy--is to blame.
Furthermore, while sales of homes increased just 0.8% over September 1999, “September a year ago was absolutely fantastic,” said Mark Schniepp, director of the Center for Regional Economic Research in Santa Barbara.
Last month 1,385 homes were sold in Ventura County.
“Sales are stabilized at what I would consider a comfortably high level,” said Nancy Sidhu, a senior economist for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. “What this is reflecting is continued demand for housing in Southern California. . . . Ventura County is, to many people, an ideal place to come and live.”
The tight housing market drives up the cost of homes and makes it difficult for sales to increase, Sidhu said.
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“Demand is just very strong, and there isn’t a lot of supply,” she said. “What’s good is people want to live in Southern California. It ratifies our own high opinion of where we’ve been living.”
In the first nine months of 2000, home sales in the county are down about 3.7% compared with 1999, said John Karevoll, an analyst at Acxiom/DataQuick of La Jolla. But analysts expect the next six months to keep home sales robust.
“There is still significant momentum in Ventura County,” Schniepp said.
Home prices also continued to rise. The median price of a home in Ventura County increased to $268,000 in September, an 8.9% increase over a year ago and a 6.8% increase over August.
Last year the trend was for increases in the number of houses sold, Sidhu said. This year prices are undergoing a similar rise.
“The price increases are almost certain to continue,” Karevoll said. “The indications are that we’re going to have a very strong fourth quarter.”
Among the six Southern California counties included in the housing survey, Ventura County remains second only to Orange County in median home prices. The median cost of a home in Orange County is $277,000.
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The least expensive home sales are in San Bernardino County, which sold for a median price of $142,000 in September. San Bernardino County also had the strongest home sales, with a 7.7% increase over September 1999.
The increase in home prices shows the demand remains high, Schniepp said.
“What it confirms is that the slowdown that everybody talks about is very moderate,” he said. “In fact, in many cases it’s imperceptible.”
Sales of cars and consumer items remain strong, an indication the economy has not weakened, Schniepp said.
(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)
Ventura County House Sales
September 1999 September 2000
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Number Median Number Median City / ZIP Code of sales price of sales price CAMARILLO 93010 78 $258,500 55 $306,000 93012 69 $251,000 61 $258,000 FILLMORE 93015 8 $191,750 8 $180,500 MOORPARK 93021 66 $221,500 81 $310,000 OAK PARK 91377 36 $350,500 49 $335,000 OAK VIEW 93022 11 $167,500 10 $242,500 OJAI 93023 32 $267,500 28 $261,250 OXNARD 93030 102 $195,500 129 $242,500 93033 56 $160,000 74 $180,500 93035 48 $218,250 59 $279,500 PORT HUENEME 93041 37 $127,000 44 $184,000 SANTA PAULA 93060 31 $128,250 21 $200,000 SIMI VALLEY 93063 99 $225,000 154 $257,000 93065 196 $255,000 143 $259,000 THOUSAND OAKS 91320 123 $318,000 94 $344,500 91360 82 $250,000 79 $280,000 91361 33 $387,000 34 $375,000 91362 95 $340,000 76 $401,000 VENTURA 93001 47 $156,000 43 $220,000 93003 106 $214,500 84 $225,000 93004 43 $235,000 45 $276,500 COUNTYWIDE 1,374 $246,000 1,385 $268,000
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Source: DataQuick Information Systems
