JANUARY HOME SALES SLIP IN MOORPARK, SIMI.

Byline: Terry Kanakri Daily News Staff Writer

Single-family home sales in the Simi Valley and Moorpark area plunged by nearly 30 percent in January compared with year-ago figures, while the average price declined by 6.5 percent, a survey shows.

The Simi Valley-Moorpark Realtors Association, with 600 members in the Simi Valley, Moorpark and the Santa Rosa Valley areas, reported 67 single-family homes closed escrow in January compared with 95 a year ago, a decline of 29.5 percent.

Noting that home sales are traditionally sluggish in the beginning of the year, local Realtors predicted that favorable interest rates and a growing inventory of houses for sale would trigger a strong buying season this spring.

"With 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaging 6.94 percent and signs that prices are firming up, we're sure to see buyers who hesitated a year ago jump into the market this spring," said Vicki Genette, president of the Simi Valley-Moorpark Association of Realtors.

Condominium sales also lagged in January, declining by nearly 31 percent from 13 to nine during the same time period.

The average price of an existing single-family dwelling sold in January was down by 6.5 percent from year-ago figures, costing $213,304 compared with $228,014, the association reported.

The average cost of a condominium was $113,406, down 7.2 percent from $122,184.

Alex Gandel, a Realtor with Troop Real Estate, which does business in Simi Valley and Moorpark, said the average price declines were due primarily to a softening in the upper-end market of homes that cost more than $275,000.

He said fewer buyers today can afford or are willing to invest such a large amount of money in a home.

The association reported that 79 percent of the January single-family sales were priced under $250,000, with the heaviest resale activity concentrated in Simi Valley.

Gandel said the demand for higher-cost homes is beginning to rise, however.

"It's my experience in the last 90 days or so that in fact some of the much higher-end properties are beginning to sell again, and we're beginning to see the move-up buyer again," he said. "I think consumer confidence is actually on an upswing and we'll experience a flattening of the prices in that price range probably in the middle of this year."

The average resale price of homes that sold in Simi Valley over the past six months was $197,186, down less than 1 percent from a year ago, the association reported. The Moorpark average was $220,145, down 7.3 percent from $237,547.

Debbie Rodgers Teasley, district manager of Coldwell Banker Town & Country, which also does business in Simi Valley and Moorpark, said home sales are on the rebound as the year progresses. She said the number of homes sold is 18 percent higher than at the same time last year, and she predicted prices would firm up.

She said one reason for the improvement in home sales is the decline of bank-owned foreclosed properties, whose lower prices competed with market-value homes for sale.

"That caused a lot of the market to come down, price-wise," she said. "You had a huge glut in the market that the banks were willing to let go at a reduced price, and that caused prices to go down."

Spurred by a gradual economic recovery, foreclosures of residential and commercial properties in Ventura County declined by 18.4 percent in 1995, the first year-to-year drop since 1989, TRW REDI Property Data reported recently.

TRW REDI reported lenders foreclosed on 1,350 properties in Ventura County last year, which was down from 1,654 in 1994.

Year-to-year foreclosures decreased by 8.2 percent in Simi Valley from 364 to 334, and dropped by 27.6 percent from 76 to 55 in Moorpark.

Teasley said Realtors are optimistic that home sales will rebound this year, although at a fairly slow pace.

"I think it's going to be a strong first quarter," she said. "It will be a groadual slow increase and that's a healthy sign rather than an overnight improvement. If it's an overnight success, then what you have is a temporary adjustment - you don't have a permanent change."

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