SHORTAGES, RAIN SLOW HOME SALES.Byline: Daily News SANTA CLARITA Santa Clarita, city (1990 pop. 110,642), Los Angeles co., S Calif., suburb 30 mi (48 km) NW of downtown Los Angeles, on the Santa Clara River; inc. 1987. Situated in the Santa Clara valley and nearby canyons, Santa Clarita includes the former towns of Canyon Country, - Home sales slowed in January in the Santa Clarita Valley The Santa Clarita Valley is the valley of the Santa Clara River in Southern California. It stretches through Los Angeles County and Ventura County. Its main population center is the city of Santa Clarita. The valley was part of the 48,612-acre (19,672. , the result of a minimal inventory of houses on the market and a rainy winter, a trade organization said Friday. But the median price of a resale home continued to sizzle siz·zle intr.v. siz·zled, siz·zling, siz·zles 1. To make the hissing sound characteristic of frying fat. 2. To seethe with anger or indignation. 3. at $510,000, compared with a $409,900 average the previous January, 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 monthly report by the Santa Clarita Valley Division of the Southland Regional Association of Realtors. The median price of a condominium condominium In modern property law, individual ownership of one dwelling unit within a multidwelling building. Unit owners have undivided ownership interest in the land and those portions of the building shared in common. was $311,000, compared with $262,000 in January a year ago and $305,408 for the median in all of 2004. Escrow escrow Instrument, such as a deed, money, or property, that constitutes evidence of obligations between two or more parties and is held by a third party. It is delivered by the third party only upon fulfillment of some condition. closed on a total of 195 single-family homes and 102 condos in January. Home sales were down 3.9 percent from the record for the month set last year. Condo sales fell 13.6 percent from January 2004. Mike Davis, president of the association's local division, blamed the slump on the area's limited inventory. ``We have plenty of people who want to buy, but right now the problem is on the supply side,'' Davis said. `'We just need more listings. That's the key factor holding back this market.'' The current inventory represents a 2.8-month supply of homes while the current sales pace demands a five-month backlog. At the same time, skyrocketing asking prices coupled with rising mortgage rates threaten to cool the market. ``Sooner or later you reach a point where people cannot afford to buy, or it simply does not make sense to pay the price requested by some sellers,'' said Jim Link the association's executive vice president. |
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