Valley Home Prices Fall, Ending Recent Surge

The median price of a San Fernando Valley home dipped 1.8% and sales declined 15% in September, ending four consecutive months of record-breaking gains, a real estate trade group reported Monday.

A Southland Regional Assn. of Realtors study found that the median home price fell to $270,000 in September from $275,000 in August. Sales were down last month to 1,122 from 1,321 the previous month.

But the median price--the mark at which half the homes sold for more and half for less--was still 9.3% ahead of September 2000. The number of sales dropped 1.8% from the previous year.

“Those numbers reflect a seasonal downturn made more severe because of the terrorist strikes,” said Jim Link, executive vice president of the association.

The median price and total sales for Valley condominiums also fell last month, according to the report. The price slipped 2.2% to $155,000 from a record high of $159,000 in August. It was still up 9.5% from September 2000.

Condo sales skidded 19% from August, with 405 units sold. The sales increased 3.8% above September of last year.

After peaking in 1991, the median Valley home price bottomed out at $155,000 in November 1995 and the same level in February 1997, as a result of recession and the 1994 Northridge earthquake.

A surging state economy the last few years helped fuel the real estate market to new heights.

This year, low interest rates, strong spring and summer buying and thin housing inventories bolstered prices, which set records from May to August. Leslie Appleton-Young, vice president and chief economist for the California Assn. of Realtors, said the Southern California housing market was holding its own given the economic shocks of the Sept. 11 attacks.

But Appleton-Young warned that national and international events have created “tremendous uncertainty” that could harm the market. Link said that more layoffs in industries such as entertainment could also dampen sales.

In the Santa Clarita Valley, meanwhile, home sales dropped 21.2% from August to September, but were 20.2% above the same period in 2000. Last month, 256 single-family homes sold in the area.

The median price in the Santa Clarita Valley held steady at $275,000 in September, and was up 11.2% over the same month last year.

The median condominium price in the Santa Clarita Valley was $155,000, down 1.3% from the previous month. It was still 11.9% higher than the year before.