Valley Median Home Price Still Rising

Amid a torpid national economy and record monthly job losses, the San Fernando Valley real estate market was still firing on all cylinders in July as the median home price reached $270,500, surpassing an all-time high for the third month in a row, a real estate trade group reported Monday.

The median price--half of the single-family homes sold for more than that amount and half sold for less--rose 3.9% from June to July, according to the monthly report by the Southland Regional Assn. of Realtors. The median home price was up 11.3% compared with the same month last year.

“We didn’t think it would stay this hot this long,” said Wendy Furth, president of the association. “But it’s music to all of our ears.”

Home sales, another measure of real estate health, dipped slightly as 1,222 houses changed hands in July, down from 1,263 the previous month.

Even so, Valley home sales remained 16.3% ahead of where they were during the same period last year, the report said.

After cresting in 1991, the median Valley home price fell dramatically to $155,000 in November 1995 and again in February 1997, as a result of a statewide recession and the 1994 Northridge earthquake.

In the last few years, however, a surging state economy has revitalized the real estate market. More recently, low interest rates, strong spring and summer buying and low housing inventories have buoyed housing values.

Robert Kleinhenz, a senior economist with the California Assn. of Realtors, said the local housing market has shown surprising resilience in the economic conditions of the last year.

“We’ve got a housing market nationally, statewide and locally that’s been doing much better than anyone expected, given the mixed economic signals,” Kleinhenz said. “We’re very fortunate.”

Kleinhenz said he expected median home prices in the Los Angeles housing market to continue their steady climb through the end of this year and well into next.

However, the market could be negatively affected by a drop in consumer confidence or a slowdown in borrowing by overextended consumers, he warned.

Rich Miller, a real estate broker with Century 21 All Properties in Chatsworth, said the local market might not be as strong as it looks.

“Just because the median price sale is higher today than it’s ever been, housing prices across the Valley are not necessarily higher than they’ve been in the past,” Miller said.

“I’ve seen higher-end houses being sold, pushing up the median price. But business is not as good as it was a year ago.”

The median price for Valley condominiums reached $154,000 in July, tying the record high reached in September 1991 and again in March 1992.

Condominium sales were down 1.5% from June to July, with 462 units sold, according to the report. But the figures were still 16.7% above those for the same period last year.

In the Santa Clarita Valley, home sales dropped 10% in July but were 41.3% above the same period in 2000.

The median price of a single-family home was down 3.3% from June to July to $265,000, but up 7.9% over the same month last year.

The median condominium price for the area was $158,000, the same as the previous month, but 16.6% above the year before.

July condo sales were up 33.1% over the year before and 4.4% ahead of June.

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Home Sales

The median cost for a single-family home sold in the San Fernando Valley rose for the third straight month, hitting $270,500 in July, 11.3% above July 2000.

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Median resale price

Single family homes

July: $270,500

Condominiums

July: $154,000

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Source: Southland Regional Assn. of Realtors