County Home Sales, Prices Set Records
Overcoming the usual wintertime blues, Ventura County’s housing market surged to record levels in February as buyers tried to beat an increase in mortgage interest rates expected as the national economy recovers this year.
“It’s safe to say this is the best February ever for Ventura County,” said John Karevoll, analyst for DataQuick Information Systems Inc. of La Jolla. “Normally, there’s a lull right after the holidays. It’s very slow. This time, we’ve got February numbers we wouldn’t normally see until summer.”
County home sales and prices increased more last month than in any February since DataQuick began keeping figures in 1988. The number of homes sold was up 36% and prices were 20% higher compared with the same month a year ago, according to DataQuick, which counts sales at the close of escrow.
“It’s clearly a situation where people are just trying to get into the market before it’s too late,” Karevoll said. “They’re afraid the market will get away from them. If interest rates go higher, a lot of people who are able to buy today won’t be able to six months down the road.”
Ventura County owners sold 1,233 houses and condominiums last month, up from 905 for February 2001 and nearly three times more than in the same month a decade ago, when the county was entering an eight-year slowdown.
The county’s median home price--the point at which half the homes sell for more and half for less--reached $303,000 in February compared with $253,000 a year ago.
Both the sales and price numbers are also up sharply from the month before, even though the January figures were the highest for that month since 1989.
Ventura County’s increases were the highest reported in the region so far, Karevoll said. Sales outstripped a 21% increase in Los Angeles County, and hikes of 29% and 24% in Orange and San Diego counties, respectively. Price jumps from a year ago ranged from 11% to 15% in those three large counties, DataQuick reported.
“There’s clearly a migration of money from stocks and bonds to real estate, because it’s a safer bet,” Karevoll said. “And, right now, the return on money invested in housing is much better than any other investment.”
That isn’t likely to change soon, said Mark Schniepp, director of the California Economic Forecast in Santa Barbara.
“People understand that prices aren’t going down, [interest] rates are going up and this is the time to get in,” he said. “Prices aren’t going to erode given the recovery that’s underway. And we’ve seen how high prices can get in the Bay Area. We’re a long way from that in Ventura County.”
To see why the housing market is on such a run, consider the cost of a loan on the typical $303,000 Ventura County home today, compared with 1989, when the median home price was $215,000, Karevoll said.
With a 20% down payment, that $242,000 loan today would come with a monthly payment of $1,534 for 30 years, he said. In February 1989, when buyers paid a mortgage rate of 10.86%, the typical $172,000 loan would have had monthly payments of $1,620, he said.
That is without taking into account a jump of about 38% in the cost of living since 1989.
“This illustrates why things are going so well,” Karevoll said.
