County Home Sales Fall Off Region’s Pace

Breaking with the rest of Southern California, home sales in Ventura County slumped last month, though prices remained at highs not seen since the late 1980s.

Sales across the county dipped 5.7% compared with May of last year, while the median price was up 8%. The median price in May was $256,000, the same as the previous month.

In contrast, Los Angeles County had its strongest May sales in 11 years, rising 5.6% from 1999. Orange County saw monthly sales jump 9% to its best May in 12 years.

Because of the increase in sales elsewhere, economists say the reason for the Ventura County drop could be a little more complicated than simply laying the blame on the Federal Reserve’s most recent rate hikes--the favored explanation for a 14% drop during April.

“What I suspect is that lower- and middle-class type of homes are being affected by interest rates, but the bigger ones aren’t,” said Bill Watkins, director of UC Santa Barbara Economic Forecast Project. “The really wealthy [people] are still buying” and that’s keeping prices and sales up in some places.

Last month, 1,325 homes sold in the county, down from 1,405 for May 1999, according to a report by La Jolla-based research firm Acxiom/DataQuick. The sales figures include new and resale homes as well as condominiums. The median is the point at which half the homes sold for more and half sold for less.

The interest rate for an average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was at 7.98% Tuesday, according to Bankrate.com, which publishes nightly averages based on its survey of nearly 3,000 banks in 50 states.

Economists and analysts said that Ventura County’s housing types--newer and move-up homes--are more sensitive to the financial markets than those elsewhere, but that they are also the most likely to bounce back.

“We saw a pause through a good portion of April and a good part of May, but sales picked up in the second half of the month,” said John Karevoll, an analyst at Acxiom/DataQuick. “We may not settle in at 1999 levels, but it’s going to be a pretty good summer.”

Real estate agents said rising prices have buyers jumping into the market, especially since listings are going so quickly. They added that even some wealthy buyers are feeling the pinch regardless of interest-rate hikes.

Steve Clark, an agent at Prudential California Realty in Thousand Oaks, had a client searching for a five-bedroom house for $500,000, who had to reconsider his options.

“What he could have bought a year ago, he can’t buy today,” he said. “He had to go down in size.”

Some people are entering the market now in hopes of beating any further rise in interest rates, agents said. Further, Clark said, recent hiring in the tech and biotech industries is going to increase demand.

“A lot of buyers are expecting the bottom to fall out,” he said. “They’re stripping inventory.”

Much of Thousand Oaks experienced dips, with the western end experiencing one of the largest, with numbers falling by about a quarter, from 78 homes sold to 57. Median prices there rose 16.1% to $290,000.

Fillmore had the largest sales dip, blamed mostly on a lack of inventory, with sales dropping 40%, from 20 homes sold to 12.

Sales rose in several pockets of the county, skyrocketing in Oak View by 140% to 12 homes sold, and with prices up 21.9% to $247,500. Santa Paula also saw a steep rise, with 63.6% more homes sold than the year before, from 22 to 36.

Real estate agents chalked up Santa Paula’s sales jump to the scarcity of affordable housing elsewhere in the county.

“It’s the classic example, because we’re so affordable,” said Kay Wilson-Bolton, president of the Ventura County Coastal Assn. of Realtors. “Many of our sales are coming from out-of-town Realtors based in Oxnard, Camarillo or Ventura.”

But even in Santa Paula it’s difficult to find a home for under $150,000, Wilson-Bolton said.

“The average price is creeping up,” she said. “It will always be affordable to some. But, people from Santa Paula who are looking to move up are going to be at a disadvantage” to buyers from out of town.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Ventura County House Sales

May 1999 May 2000

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CAMARILLO

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Number Median Number Median City / ZIP Code of sales price of sales price 93010 98 $231,000 71 $283,000 93012 70 $253,750 69 $260,000

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FILLMORE

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Number Median Number Median City / ZIP Code of sales price of sales price 93015 20 $174,000 12 $177,500

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MOORPARK

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Number Median Number Median City / ZIP Code of sales price of sales price 93021 67 $218,500 71 $252,000

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OAK PARK

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Number Median Number Median City / ZIP Code of sales price of sales price 91377 47 $300,000 42 $369,250

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OAK VIEW

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Number Median Number Median City / ZIP Code of sales price of sales price 93022 5 $203,000 12 $247,500

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OJAI

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Number Median Number Median City / ZIP Code of sales price of sales price 93023 25 $275,000 24 $252,500

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OXNARD

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Number Median Number Median City / ZIP Code of sales price of sales price 93030 99 $183,000 96 $219,250 93033 37 $142,000 56 $180,000 93035 66 $233,250 49 $316,000

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PORT HUENEME

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Number Median Number Median City / ZIP Code of sales price of sales price 93041 41 $144,000 42 $149,500

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SANTA PAULA

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Number Median Number Median City / ZIP Code of sales price of sales price 93060 22 $172,250 36 $167,500

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SIMI VALLEY

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Number Median Number Median City / ZIP Code of sales price of sales price 93063 123 $195,500 114 $223,500 93065 186 $242,000 146 $251,000

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THOUSAND OAKS

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Number Median Number Median City / ZIP Code of sales price of sales price 91320 104 $287,000 103 $315,000 91360 78 $249,750 57 $290,000 91361 33 $369,000 35 $382,000 91362 103 $325,000 84 $410,000

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VENTURA

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Number Median Number Median City / ZIP Code of sales price of sales price 93001 41 $265,000 41 $193,000 93003 86 $210,250 105 $238,000 93004 33 $224,000 35 $263,000 COUNTYWIDE 1,405 $237,000 1,325 $256,000

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Source: Acxiom / DataQuick Information Systems