New House Sales Exceed Record in Riverside Area

New house sales reached the 5,680 mark in the third quarter in Riverside County, setting an all-time record and exceeding the previous record of 5,533 set in the second quarter, according to the Competitive Housing Market Report of the San Diego-based Meyers Group.

Thanks to rapid expansion in the southern sector of the county--from Lake Elsinore to the San Diego County line--the 5,680 units sold were almost 2 1/2 times more than the 1,379 houses sold in the third quarter of 1987, according to Steve Johnson of the firm’s Orange County/Inland Empire division.

With the exception of the Palm Springs-Palm Desert area, where condominiums and other attached housing types are popular, the detached house was the overwhelming choice of buyers in the county, he said. Single-family houses accounted for 96% of the new houses sold, up from 88% in the previous quarter, he added.

The median price for detached housing in the county was $125,900, a less than 1% increase from the previous quarter, while higher-priced desert attached units resulted in a median price of $140,000.