August Home Prices, Sales Up
Ventura County home sales and prices in August were up significantly from a year ago. And while uncertainty after the terrorist attacks is expected to cut into September sales, area experts say it shouldn’t knock down prices.
There are a number of reasons the market remains strong, said John Karevoll, analyst for La Jolla-based DataQuick Information Systems.
Interest rates are extremely low, about 6.5% on 30-year mortgages. Lending institutions are more willing than in recent years to loan to higher-risk buyers. And any national threat of recession has yet to pierce the county’s economy.
“Right now, home ownership is a spectacularly good investment compared to the stock market or a mutual fund that’s gone way down,” Karevoll said.
The number of sales jumped 27% from August 2000, to 1,748 new and resale houses and condominiums, according to DataQuick figures released Tuesday. The median price was up 11.6%, to $280,000.
“The demand for homes is generated by very basic needs,” Karevoll said. “People graduate from college and get jobs and get married and have kids and get divorced and need another home. Those things continue to occur, even in turbulent times.”
Earlier this summer, high-end home sales had slumped and entry-level homes were picking up that slack countywide. But last month, sales and prices were generally up in entry-level, mid-market and high-end markets.
Prices were up between 7.5% and 9.3% throughout most of Thousand Oaks, with the exception of Newbury Park, where they dipped about 1%. Prices also climbed throughout Port Hueneme and most of Oxnard, but dipped slightly in north Oxnard, where many new entry- and mid-level homes have been added to the market. The median home price in Fillmore was up 25% from the year before, to $206,500, and in Camarillo, the median home price was slightly more than $290,000.
Area real estate agents and brokers said sales slowed for several days after the Sept. 11 attacks on the East Coast, but then buyers seemed to regain confidence.
“There were four or five days when nothing was happening,” said Oxnard broker Pat Patterson. “Then the weekend came and people started looking again and making offers.”
