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Home Prices in Ventura County Soar

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Times Staff Writer

Ventura County home prices continued their stellar climb last year, ending 2003 with a nearly 20% increase, according to figures released Wednesday.

The median price -- the point at which half the homes sold for more and half for less -- reached $398,000 for the 12 months. That was $64,000 more, or 19.6%, than the $325,000 median at which local homes sold for all of 2002.

“There are no big changes [expected]. So the increase in prices will continue into the spring,” said John Karevoll, an analyst with DataQuick Information Systems, which collects statistics on sales of new and used homes.

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DataQuick also released sales data for five other counties in Southern California, all of which had double-digit price increases in 2003. Unlike its neighbors, Ventura County saw its home sales numbers dip.

“Ventura [County] is doing what the region is doing, except supply seems to be even tighter there than elsewhere,” Karevoll said.

The total number of dwellings sold in Ventura County was down 2.2% last year, to 17,377. That was 398 fewer than the 17,775 homes and condos that sold in 2002 -- the second busiest year for sales in the area since 1988, when DataQuick began collecting local home sales data.

Jeff Comstock, who served as president of the west county’s Coastal Assn. of Realtors in 2003, said the problem was simple to understand: Too few houses to sell.

“The only reason we didn’t beat last year’s [2002] number is we didn’t have enough inventory. If we had more homes to sell, we would have set a new record,” he said. “This upward escalation in prices is, in large measure, a result of supply and demand. It’s been that way all year, and it’s not getting any better.”

To illustrate how tight the market is in the six cities the association represents -- Oxnard, Camarillo, Ventura, Santa Paula, Fillmore and Port Hueneme -- Comstock said the group’s 2,500 members had only 300 properties to sell last month.

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“I’m looking for ’04 to be another good year in real estate,” the Oxnard Realtor said. “I see price appreciation still going up, but hopefully not at the rates we’ve seen, because too many people are being priced out of the market.”

The steep price appreciation makes it difficult for low- and middle-income wage earners to afford a home, said Dan Hamilton, director of economics for UC Santa Barbara Economic Forecast.

“The traditionally inexpensive ZIP Codes are becoming unaffordable,” he said. “Everybody knows that Westlake isn’t affordable, and hasn’t been in years. But very soon you won’t even be able to consider Oxnard or Santa Paula affordable.”

Peter Greer, immediate past president of the Conejo Valley Assn. of Realtors, says that with mortgage rates staying low -- 30-year loans are still available below 6% -- diligent home shoppers are finding what they seek.

“I know a lot of people complained that they couldn’t find a home, but everybody I know who was serious and working with a competent agent found something they enjoyed that fulfilled their needs,” Greer said. “I have yet to have somebody come back in and regret buying a home.”

For December, the most recent figures available, Ventura County’s median home price rose nearly 19%, to $414,000 -- just $1,000 below the record of $415,000 set in September 2003. The December 2002 median price was $348,000. Sales volume fell 2.5% to 1,413, down from the 1,449 dwellings sold the same month a year earlier.

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But an examination of individual categories shows Ventura County set a pair of median price records last month, according to Karevoll.

The median for resold homes hit a high of $436,500 in December and existing condominiums changed hands at an all-time high of $307,500.

“Prices will continue to go up, and for a long time,” Karevoll said. “The question is whether the rate of increase will be 5% or 15% by the end of 2004.”

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

December home sales by ZIP Code

Annual sales and median prices for real estate in Ventura County in December compared with the previous year. The figures include new and resale homes and condominiums.

*--* Sales Median prices City ZIP Code 2002 2003 2002 2003 Camarillo 93010 67 75 $365,000 $439,000 93012 61 73 400,750 453,000

Fillmore 93015 18 18 237,000 339,000

Moorpark 93021 93 54 385,000 386,000

Oak Park 91377 39 23 487,500 391,000

Ojai 93023 16 26 340,000 424,000

Oxnard 93030 93 94 335,000 414,000 93033 101 88 220,000 358,000 93035 49 40 358,000 440,000

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Port Hueneme 93041 53 65 240,000 275,000

Santa Paula 93060 31 25 230,000 297,000

Simi Valley 93063 63 108 321,000 406,000 93065 129 137 329,500 398,750

Thousand Oaks 91320 103 77 400,000 559,000 91360 93 78 360,000 470,000 91361 17 32 371,250 696,250 91362 89 85 534,000 540,000

Ventura 93001 48 39 317,750 393,000 93003 69 69 331,500 380,000 93004 59 26 390,000 434,500

Countywide 1,449 1,413 348,000 414,000

*--*

Source: DataQuick Information Systems

Los Angeles Times

Note: Countywide totals include sales with unknown ZIP Codes. Median prices include unincorporated areas not shown.

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Sales since 1988

December figures for home sales in Ventura County since 1988, with median prices and number of sales.

*--* Price Sales 1988 $218,000 1,552

1989 228,000 968

1990 216,000 734

1991 210,000 689

1992 199,000 1,139

1993 193,000 957

1994 190,000 935

1995 192,000 837

1996 197,000 904

1997 216,000 1,081

1998 231,000 1,276

1999 247,000 1,374

2000 263,000 1,476

2001 304,000 1,360

2002 348,000 1,449

2003 414,000 1,413

*--*

Source: DataQuick Information Systems

Los Angeles Times

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