COST OF AN A.V. HOME SPIKED IN SPRING MEDIAN PRICES SURGED 16% TO 24% SINCE LAST YEAR.

Byline: Daily News

PALMDALE - Palmdale home prices averaged $186,000 this spring, up 23.8 percent from the year before, the California Association of Realtors said.

In Lancaster, spring home prices were $151,750, up 20.2 percent.

Median prices went up 15.9 percent in Rosamond to $131,000 and up 21.3 percent in California City to $91,250.

Statewide, the median price of an existing, single-family detached home in California hit a new record in spring, rising 15.5 percent to $369,640, the Realtors group reported.

Since 1999, Antelope Valley median sales prices have more than doubled, association records show. In December 1999, median prices were $75,000 in Lancaster and $84,000 in Palmdale.

Thirty-year fixed mortgage interest rates averaged 5.51 percent during the second quarter of 2003, down from 6.81 percent in the second quarter of 2002, according to the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. Adjustable mortgage interest rates averaged 3.66 percent in the second quarter of 2003, down from 4.80 percent in the second quarter of 2002.

Statewide, the 10 cities and communities with the highest median home prices in California during the second quarter 2003 were: Belvedere/Tiburon, $1,117,500; Los Altos, $1,115,000; Saratoga, $1,108,000; Burlingame, $1,007,500; Manhattan Beach, $985,000; Beverly Hills, $942,000; Malibu, $930,000; Laguna Beach, $925,000; San Marino, $869,000; Palos Verdes Estates, $850,000.

The 10 California cities and communities with the largest annual increase in their median home prices during the second quarter 2003 compared to the same period in 2002 were: Yucca Valley, 41.2 percent; Loma Linda, 33.5 percent; Laguna Hills, 33.2 percent; Pismo Beach, 33 percent; Rio Vista, 32.8 percent; Santee, 32.1 percent; El Segundo, 31.9 percent; South El Monte, 31.6 percent; Adelanto, 31.5 percent; Perris, 31.4 percent.