Hot Home Sales Cool Slightly in September
The pace of Ventura County home sales has slowed from its summer peak, but September figures released this week were the highest for the month since the 1988 housing boom, and median prices still hover at a third of a million dollars.
“The September we have here is one of the strongest I have on record,” said analyst John Karevoll of DataQuick Information Systems, which compiled the sales data for new and existing homes and condominiums. “Prices will continue to go up, there’s no doubt about that. But prices probably won’t continue to go up as fast as they have been.”
The number of homes sold last month was 1,399, up 27 from September 2001. The year-over-year median price was up 16% to $333,000. The median is the point where half the homes sold for more and half for less.
But the September showing couldn’t match a particularly robust summer. In August, 299 more homes were sold than in September for a median price $1,000 greater.
And in the peak month of June, when 159 additional homes were sold, the median price reached its highest level of the year at $335,000.
For the first nine months of 2002, more than 1,030 additional homes and condos sold countywide than in the same period last year, Karevoll said. The median price rose 17.2% since January, but is expected to top out around $345,000 through the end of the year.
The year-to-year price increase -- which has ranged from 10.1% to 24.3% so far in 2002 -- should begin to slow down in January, Karevoll said.
“I expect that to taper off by spring, down to about 10% to 12%,” he said. “The extra surge the market got when interest rates went down in the summer has almost played itself out.”
Sellers in Thousand Oaks, Moorpark and Oak Park realized steady gains last month. The median price of an Oak Park residence was up more than $104,000, or 27.1%, in 12 months to $489,000. Thousand Oaks home prices jumped 14.9% to $455,000 and Moorpark prices rose 37.1% to $380,000.
The exclusive communities of Lake Sherwood and Westlake Village sold four fewer houses last month than a year ago, but prices rose more than 9% to $520,000.
“It’s still a strong seller’s market,” said Geoff Baker, president of the Conejo Valley Assn. of Realtors, whose more than 1,100 members sell property in Thousand Oaks, Oak Park, Westlake Village and Agoura Hills. “It’s fairly common to see multiple offers on nearly every property that’s out there.”
Though prices are likely to level off a bit, Baker said he does not expect a drop in home values in the near future.
In the west county, Camarillo home prices were up 24.8% to $388,000, Ojai homes rose 21% to $381,250 and Port Hueneme prices increased 40.8% to $250,250.
Only two areas in the county experienced price declines in September. Fillmore home prices fell 5.9% to $243,773 and in the eastern portion of Simi Valley the median price dipped $3,500 to $285,000.
Broker Kay Wilson-Bolton, who operates Century 21 offices in Fillmore, Santa Paula and Ojai, said some buyers have started to reconsider entering an overheated market.
“We’re starting to see a little resistance from buyers,” she said. “They’re either not qualifying for loans for the higher prices or they’re saying, ‘This is crazy. We’ll take a step back and see how things are going.’ ”
Wilson-Bolton, former president of the Coastal Assn. of Realtors, which represents agents in six west county cities, said this last year’s rapid price increases come at a cost.
“I’ve been at this 27 years and I’ve seen it like this before -- and it’s just not healthy,” she said. “A good steady [price] growth is better.
“People like to see the appreciation in their homes, but where are they going to go? To capitalize on that growth they’d have to leave the area, and that’s not what most people want to do.”
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*--* September Home Sales
Year Sales Median Price 1988 1,761 $195,000 1989 1,179 $227,000 1990 650 $215,000 1991 630 $213,000 1992 690 $203,000 1993 827 $196,000 1994 925 $193,000 1995 868 $192,000 1996 857 $190,000 1997 1,055 $202,000 1998 1,396 $224,000 1999 1,374 $246,000 2000 1,385 $268,000 2001 1,372 $287,000 2002 1,399 $333,000 Source: DataQuick Information Systems
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*--* Brea kdow n by ZIP Code s September, 2001 September, 2002 City Zip Code Sales Median Price Sales Median Price Cama 93010 60 $305,000 58 $328,000 rill o Cama 93012 67 $311,000 61 $388,000 rill o Fill 93015 22 $259,000 22 $243,773 more Moor 93021 49 $277,250 78 $380,000 park Oak 91377 33 $384,750 29 $489,000 Park Oak 93022 12 $272,000 9 $318,000 View Ojai 93023 21 $315,000 24 $381,250 Oxna 93030 82 $235,000 100 $313,000 rd Oxna 93033 73 $185,000 87 $252,500 rd Oxna 93035 46 $263,000 61 $323,000 rd Port 93041 53 $177,750 40 $250,250 Huen eme Sant 93060 26 $155,000 22 $201,250 a Paul a Simi 93063 105 $288,500 94 $285,000 Vall ey Simi 93065 137 $271,000 143 $325,000 Vall ey Thou 91320 102 $360,000 78 $405,000 sand Oaks Thou 91360 75 $329,000 65 $375,000 sand Oaks Thou 91361 28 $476,750 24 $520,000 sand Oaks Thou 91362 81 $396,000 77 $455,000 sand Oaks Vent 93001 31 $230,500 40 $286,250 ura Vent 93003 66 $275,000 87 $357,500 ura Vent 93004 29 $300,000 27 $370,500 ura Coun 1372 $287,000 1399 $333,000 tywi de Sour ce: Data Quic k Info rmat ion Syst ems
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