Valley Home Resale Prices Jump in February
San Fernando Valley home prices jumped 5.6% in February as tight inventories helped reverse a general decline in prices since last August.
The median cost of a single-family resale home (the price at which half of the homes sold for more and half for less) was $247,000 in February, up $13,000 over the previous month, according to the Southland Regional Assn. of Realtors.
The median price hit a record $255,000 last August before sinking to $234,000 in January.
Realtors attributed the climb to several factors, including a shortage of homes on the market and recovery from the winter home-selling doldrums. Home-buying activity typically perks up in spring and summer.
“We think this brief plateau is a good opportunity to buy because we are going to see values go sky-high again,” said Wendy Furth, president of the Southland Assn. of Realtors.
But a more cautious note was sounded by Leslie Appleton-Young, vice president and chief economist of the California Assn. of Realtors, who noted that the housing market will be affected by the overall economy.
“The key thing I’m going to be watching for this year is jobs,” said Appleton-Young. “As long as we are in the positive column in terms of jobs, we can expect a robust housing market in Southern California.”
Jeff Kahn, who has been selling Valley real estate for 20 years at Prudential California Realty in Northridge, said he expects Valley home prices to continue to march higher, though not in “leaps and bounds” seen in the late 1990s.
“When you have a lot of demand and scarcity of homes on the market, you are going to see prices go up a bit,” said Kahn. “So far the demand is holding up. But that depends what will happen with consumer confidence, the stock market and interest rates.
“The bottom line is that you just don’t know where things are going right now,” Kahn added. “If we did, we would all be wealthy.”
The number of homes on the market dropped 12.1% in February, making for what brokers are calling a seller’s market. Just 670 homes traded hands in February, down from 682 in January and the lowest monthly sales total since February 1997.
Scarcity of single-family homes continued to spur sales of condominiums, which saw their median price reach $145,000--near the all-time high of $147,000 set last November. The median price is up 10.7% over the same month last year and up less than 1% over the previous month.
In the Santa Clarita Valley, the median home price rose 0.8%, to $247,000. That’s up from $245,000 in January and $234,000 from year-ago figures.
The report said 186 single-family resale homes changed hands in the Santa Clarita Valley, up about 25% from January and up 7.5% from year-ago figures.
In the condo market, 83 units changed hands, with a median price of $141,000--down about 4.4% from January, but up 10.2% over one year ago.
