Post by red on Jul 12, 2006 5:59:21 GMT -8
www.sgvtribune.com/news/ci_4039806
County home prices soar
By Troy Anderson Staff Writer
San Gabriel Valley Tribune
Soaring home prices pushed Los Angeles County real estate values up 11 percent last year to nearly $1 trillion, boosting property tax revenues for a variety of programs, officials said Tuesday.
From 1999 to this year, the average price of a home in the county rose from $245,000 to $568,550.
"I think buyers are price sensitive," said James Link, executive vice-president of the Southland Regional Association of Realtors. "Interest rates are still very much in the affordable range. But what we are seeing is that buyers, especially in the low-income and middle-
income markets, are stretched in order to afford their first home.
"That obviously will have a cooling effect on the market. I think the cooling we're seeing in price escalation is, to a great degree, a reflection of the market just outpacing either the buyer's ability to purchase or willingness to pay that high of a price. So an adjustment was anticipated."
The record $950 billion assessment roll was driven primarily by home sales, which were a key factor in the $94billion increase over the $856 billion roll the year before. The current roll is almost double the $541 billion roll in 1999.
"Single-family home sales were a crucial element of this roll, caused largely by low interest rates and a short supply of low- to medium-price housing," Assessor Rick Auerbach said. "Rising home prices are primarily a consequence of the demand for housing."
"Los Angeles County has been amazingly strong," said Jack Kyser, chief economist of the county Economic Development Corp. "It's now slowing down, but the county is still holding up better than most areas around Southern California."
Some of the cities with the greatest increases in values were Azusa, 18 percent; La Puente, 13percent; Lancaster, up 29 percent; Palmdale, 21 percent; Malibu, 14 percent; West Hollywood, 14 percent; and Pomona, 14 percent.
Among the highest-valued cities, Pasadena and Los Angeles were up 11 percent; Long Beach, 13 percent; Glendale, 11percent; Santa Clarita, 12percent; Beverly Hills, 8 percent; Burbank, 10 percent; and Rancho Palos Verdes, 9 percent.
The largest single factor in the increase was the sale of single-family homes and condominiums, which added $65 billion to the roll. Each property that changed ownership resulted in an average increase of $332,000.
Another major factor in the roll increase was the annual consumer price index adjustment required by Proposition 13 for properties that did not change ownership. This year, the increase was the maximum allowed of 2 percent, adding $16billion to the roll compared to $14 billion the prior year.
The third-largest factor was new construction, which increased the roll by $7 billion compared to $6 billion in 2004.
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