2002 REAL ESTATE: BUILDING DEMAND REAL ESTATE MARKET 'ROCK SOLID' IN 2002.

Byline: Gregory J. Wilcox Staff Writer

For most San Fernando Valley area communities, this year's resale housing will set sales and price records.

It's happening despite a tepid economy, war worries and a soft job market.

Credit historic low interest rates and a bearish equities market for putting smiles on the faces of agents, buyers and sellers alike. In fact, if supplies weren't so tight, those grins would no doubt be bigger.

And the region's biggest market, the Valley floor, is also the strongest.

``This was looking like a banner year long before the latest round of cuts in interest rates,'' said Olga Moretti, president of the Southland Regional Association of Realtors, which tracks the markets in the San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys.

In November, consumers bought 1,085 previously owned, single-family homes versus 889 a year ago. The November total is the second highest for that month since 1,216 units sold in 1988.

So far this year, 12,756 homes have been sold, compared with 12,501 in all of 2001.

It means that this year will be the best since 1988, when 15,263 previously owned homes sold.

And the Valley's median price in November hit a record $331,100, up from $263,000 a year ago.

Other communities also report robust markets.

--So far this year in the Santa Clarita Valley 3,012 single-family homes have sold, just 147 units under last year's record 3,159 sales.

The median price in November was $324,000, up from $287,000 a year ago.

``Even as sales slow during ... December, which they won't, 2002 will be a banner year for real estate in the Santa Clarita Valley,'' said Jim Link, executive vice president at the Realtors group.

``The market is unique due to the ferocious demand for housing. In some instances, buyers are queued up or the listing is off the market before we can process all the paperwork,'' he said.

--In the High Desert, where the Antelope Valley counts for the vast majority of the market, the median price in October was $136,650, an annual increase of 18.9 percent, and sales soared 21.4 percent. The sales record, set in 2001, is 8,668 units, and it surely will be broken this year, said Robert Kleinhenz, senior economist for the California Association of Realtors.

Through October of this year consumers bought 8,537 previously owned homes, he said.

--It's a similar story in Ventura County.

In 1998 a record 9,005 homes sold but through this year's fist nine months sales were up 11.3 percent, CAR said.

In October, sales increased 21 percent on an annual basis and the median price gained 18.7 percent to $391,120.

This inertia should carry over into the new year, too.

``It just happens it's still rock solid the way it was four year ago. Sales are still strong and there is no sign of strain,'' said John Karevoll, a market analyst at DataQuick Information Systems, a La Jolla-based real estate information firm.

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Photo:

Despite a tepid economy, the housing market has remained strong in the San Fernando Valley. Housing projects like this one on Lemona Avenue in Panorama City are setting sales and price records.

Tina Burch/Staff Photographer