98 HOMES A DAY SELL FOR $1 MILLION OR MORE IN STATE.

Byline: Gregory J. Wilcox Staff Writer

Home sales along California's millionaire rows jumped 53 percent in the third quarter from the same period last year, but eased off their record pace set in the April-June quarter, an industry tracker said Thursday.

In July through September, well-heeled real estate shoppers across the state bought 8,985 homes - an average of almost 98 per day - that were each priced at $1 million or more, said DataQuick Information Systems analysts. That total, second-highest ever, was down 11.4 percent from 10,145 in the second quarter.

In the 2003 third quarter, 5,266 properties each sold for $1 million or more each in the state.

One San Fernando Valley community, Calabasas, was on the high-price, high-activity list with 63 sales, 12 fewer than a year ago. It ranked 19th on the list, tied with Beverly Hills.

The largest home was a six-bedroom, nine-bathroom, 13,949 square-foot Westlake Village mansion that sold for $4.3 million in August. The most expensive purchase was a $9.5 million home on the Newport Coast in Orange County.

The big annual sales gain reflects a harsh economic reality, too.

The millionaires buying in today's market are getting less house for their money. Lots of properties just appreciated their way into seven-digit price status.

``Maybe we should change and look at it as over $2 million to make it as unique a category as it once used to be,'' said DataQuick analyst John Karevoll. ``Now there are clearly mainstream, although high-end, homes in the million-dollar category.''

The median million-dollar home had 2,610 square feet of floor space, four bedrooms and three bathrooms. The median price per square foot for all million-dollar homes was $505, up slightly from $499 for the second quarter, and up 8.7 percent from $464 a year ago.

Statewide, 41 homes at the peak of the high end sold for $5 million or more in the third quarter, and 61 sales were in the $4 million-$5 million range. In addition, 191 sold in the $3 million range, 807 in the $2 million range, and the rest between $1 million and $2 million.

The million-dollar home count includes only recorded sales for which money changed hands between a buyer and a seller. It does not include property swaps, sales of multiple lots, teardowns, large farm or ranch properties, or purchases by companies or trusts.

About 12 percent of the buyers paid cash, compared with 13 percent in the third quarter last year. Other buyers forked over an average of 28 percent of the purchase price as a down payment.

Newly built homes accounted for 1,049 of the sales during the third quarter, down 18 percent from the second quarter and up 76.3 percent from a year ago. Orange, San Diego and Los Angeles counties were the most active markets for newly built million-dollar homes, according to DataQuick.

Leslie Appleton-Young, vice president and chief economist for the California Association of Realtors, said the rate of appreciation is starting to cool at the high end, even though there are fewer properties on the market now than a year ago.

``The sad part of this is a lot of these million-dollar homes are three-bedroom, two-bath. And now you're seeing tract homes at 1 (million) and 2 million (dollars). It's not what a million-dollar home was 10 or 20 years ago,'' she said.

Gregory J. Wilcox, [phone]

greg.wilcox(at)dailynews.com