Real Estate

Pricey Homes and Lots of Them

Fewer sales mean more houses to choose from. Buyers have gained breathing room, if not a lot a great deals.

This is the time when buyers have time to shop and compare and cam make a throughful purchase. It is not like a year ago when buyers were walking around with a check in their pocket and writing offers on the hood of their car.

There were 69,499 single family homes sold in the first three months of the year in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura and San Diego counties, according to Dataquick Information Systems, a decline of more than 8% from the same period a year earlier.

Buyers don't have that panicked feeling. 'If I don't buy therefore the post goes up, I'll get into the multiple offers and lose out'

Althogh most buyers are focused on specific neighborhoods and follow median sales prices more closely thatn the price per square foot measurements, real estate agents and idustry analyst say the latter number offers the most reliable snapshot of how a market is performing over a wide area. Homes are also clearly lingering longer on the market. Southern California had a six month supply of homes for sale in January 2005.

The lowest performing zip code in Los Angeles County was 91390 in Santa Clarita, which was still up 7.7% for the same period according to Dataquick