HOUSING PRICE TAG LARGER MEDIAN COSTS CONTINUE TO RISE.Byline: Gregory J. Wilcox Staff Writer The median price of a previously owned home in California soared 20.5 percent during the first quarter to a record $407,170 and sales increased slightly from last year's record pace, a trade group reported Wednesday. Prices made double-digit percentage leaps in 18 major markets, 10 of which were 20 percent or bigger, said the Los Angeles-based California Association of Realtors. Prices around Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, ascended to record levels. A separate report from DataQuick Information Systems of La Jolla La Jolla (lə hoi`yə), on the Pacific Ocean, S Calif., an uninc. district within the confines of San Diego; founded 1869. The beautiful ocean beaches, in particular La Jolla shores and Black's Beach, and sea-washed caves attract visitors and showed that the median price increased in 97.3 percent of California's cities and communities during the first three months of this year versus 2003. First-quarter sales increased 4.4 percent to an annualized annualized Of or relating to a variable that has been mathematically converted to a yearly rate. Inflation and interest rates are generally annualized since it is on this basis that these two variables are ordinarily stated and compared. 598,370 units. That's the number of sales that would occur during the year if the other three quarters keep pace with the first. Market watchers had expected price increases to moderate by this time. And that is still on the horizon. Leslie Appleton-Young, the association's vice president and chief economist The Chief Economist is a single position job class having primary responsibility for the development, coordination, and production of economic and financial analysis. It is distinguished from the other economist positions by the broader scope of responsibility encompassing the , said these kinds of price gains are just not sustainable. ``I do think the second half of this year we are going to start to pull back from these levels. Right now you have a market where the sense of urgency is up a few notches,'' she said. That's because demand is strong, supplies tight and interest rates moving up from historical lows. She still expects sales to fall about 2 percent but this will still be the second-best market ever. In Southern California: --Los Angeles County's median price jumped 25.7 percent, to $387,860, and sales slipped 0.5 percent. Calabasas had the state's eighth-highest median, $1.1 million, ranking it just ahead of San Marino San Marino, city, United States San Marino (săn mərē`nō), residential city (1990 pop. 12,959), Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1913. Of interest is the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens. and its median of $990,000. Calabasas has the state's biggest median price gain, 55.6 percent, and San Fernando San Fernando, city, Argentina San Fernando (săn fərnăn`dō), city (1991 pop. 144,761), Buenos Aires prov., E Argentina. It is a district administrative center in the Greater Buenos Aires area. the eighth-biggest gain, 42.7 percent. (DataQuick notes that large changes in local median home prices typically indicate both local price appreciation and often large shifts in the composition of housing market activity.) --In the High Desert, which includes the Antelope Valley This article is about the Los Angeles County region. For the census-designated place in Wyoming, see Antelope Valley-Crestview, Wyoming. The Antelope Valley , the median price increased 31.3 percent, to $185,290, and sales increased 14.6 percent. --In the Inland Empire In·land Empire A region of the northwest United States between the Cascade Range and the Rocky Mountains, comprising eastern Washington, eastern Oregon, northern Idaho, and western Montana. Farming, lumbering, and mining are important to the area. , the median jumped 32.9 percent, to $258,890, and sales increased 14.1 percent. --In Ventura County, the median price rose 30.2 percent to $526,720 and sales fell 6.8 percent. During the quarter, the benchmark 30-year fixed-mortgage interest rate averaged 5.60, down from 5.83 percent in the first quarter of 2003, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. ``It's very good news. It's still a market that's in a frenzy but as rate go up some of that frenzy will disappear but it will still be a very good year,'' said Jack Kyser, chief economist at the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. Gregory J. Wilcox, (818) 713-3743 greg.wilcox(at)dailynews.com |
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