HOUSING PRICES CLIMB; SALES FALL IN WINTER LULL.

Byline: Gregory J. Wilcox Daily News Staff Writer

Housing prices in the San Fernando Valley remained strong during February, soaring 22 percent from year-ago levels, even as sales fell for the third consecutive month, a trade group said Monday.

Escrow closed on 704 single-family homes last month, a decrease of 85, or 10.8 percent, from February 1998, said the Southland Regional Association of Realtors.

Meanwhile, the median price, the point at which half the homes sold for more and half for less, hit $210,000, a jump of $38,000 from the year-ago level.

Analysts noted that a sales decline during the first two months of the year is typical and that the first two months' results do not usually foreshadow the market's performance for the rest of the year.

``It's really hard to reach any conclusion about trends with the February numbers because the purchase patterns are different,'' said John Karevoll, an analyst for Acxiom/DataQuick, a real estate market research firm.

This time of year brings investors into the market because prices are usually about 7 percent lower than during the prime buying months in the spring and summer.

``The non-owner-occupied part of the market is always stronger'' this time of year, Karevoll said.

``Investors are out there now,'' he said. ``There is a bit of a bottom feeding going on out there and we can tell that by how they finance the properties and how fast they close.''

For example, the number of buyers paying cash for a home is typically higher in January and February than during the rest of the year, he said.

``We feel that we still should have a great spring. I don't know if it will be as great as last year's, but it definitely will be up there,'' said Beth Sommer, president of the Realtors group.

And a tight inventory of product on the market is helping to slow sales.

``Buyers are more cautious today and the inventory of choice homes for sale is still thin, which slows the race to buy,'' Sommer said.

Analyst Karevoll said that even with rising prices, housing affordability remains high because interest rates are low and financing is readily available.

This helped keep the condominium market firm last month with escrow closing on 227 units, up 2.7 percent from a year ago. The median price of $117,500 increased 13 percent from a year ago.

In the smaller Santa Clarita Valley market, escrow closed on 154 single-family homes, an increase of 2 percent from February 1998. The median price was $220,000, up nearly 16 percent from a year ago.

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CHART: PRICE IS RIGHT

The median price for homes in the San Fernando Valley has increased steadily in the last year.