Slowdown in Resale Homes Continues in County : Real estate: Cautious buyers head for less-expensive property in inland areas and shun coastal sectors, where prices are well above $200,000.

Resales of homes in Orange County continued to drop sharply in the second quarter, while the appreciation of home prices failed to keep pace with the nation’s 5% inflation rate, a state realty group reported Tuesday.

High prices, cautious buyers and a strong move toward less expensive new and resale homes in inland areas contributed to the slowdown in the county and in other coastal areas, the California Assn. of Realtors said.

Orange County single-family resales for the three months ended June 30 dropped 19.3% from the second quarter of 1989, the association reported.

The median price for a single-family resale home in the county in the April-June period was up 1.5% to $248,875 from $245,107 a year earlier.

But Orange County residents who were frustrated in attempts to sell their homes weren’t alone. The resale pace took a downward path in most of the state.

The number of single-family resale homes that closed escrow during the second quarter statewide was down 11.6% to 462,872 units from the annualized rate of 523,543 homes sold during the comparable period of 1989.

The annualized rate represents the number of homes that would be sold if the rate of activity during the second quarter continued throughout the year.

The median price of a detached home statewide slipped to $195,953 in the second quarter, down 2.2% from $200,439 in the second quarter of 1989, and virtually unchanged from the January-March figure of $196,232.

“Statewide, home price appreciation has slowed considerably, reflecting the combined effect of a shift in sales to less expensive areas, rising inventories and much slower sales activity in the state’s coastal metropolitan regions,� said Jim Antt Jr., a Bakersfield Realtor and president of the state association.

In what industry specialists say is a typical seasonal increase, Orange County bucked the statewide trend of declining resale values from first-quarter levels with a 3.8% increase in the second quarter. Median prices also rose in the second quarter, up 2.2% from the first quarter’s $243,599.

The county’s high median price--third highest behind Santa Clara County’s $272,668 and $263,577 in San Francisco--is a major factor in the yearlong decline in resale activity, the realty association said.

Buyers and builders alike have shifted their focus from the state’s expensive coastal metropolitan areas, where prices have stayed well above $200,000, to inland areas, including Riverside and San Bernardino counties and the Central Valley region stretching from Bakersfield north to Sacramento.

In contrast to the sales declines and mediocre price hikes recorded in Orange County and other coastal areas, single-family home resales in the Central Valley region were up 18.5% from the second quarter of 1989 and climbed 36.3% from the first three months of 1990, the association said.

The median price of a detached home in the central region jumped 23.4% to $118,340 from $95,861 in the second quarter last year and was up 10.2% from $107,379 in the first quarter.

In the Riverside-San Bernardino region, resales dropped 2.3% from the torrid pace set in the second quarter of 1989 but soared 31.2% from the first quarter of 1990, the association reported.

MEDIAN HOME SALE PRICES BY REGION

Percent Percent Q2 Q1 Change Q2 Change Region 1990 1990 Q1 to Q2 1989 ’89 to ’90 Orange County 248,875 243,599 2.2 * 245,107 1.5 Ventura 238,895 243,218 -1.8 247,221 -3.4 Los Angeles 216,853 211,491 2.5 217,951 -0.5 San Diego 183,718 182,276 0.8 183,805 0.0 Riverside/S.B. 133,207 130,385 2.2 122,176 9.0 Low Desert 121,795 118,094 3.1 115,256 5.7

* Median price revised due to sample expansion. Source: California Assn. of Realtors

HOME RESALES BY REGION

Percent Percent Change Change Region Q1 to Q2 ’89 to ’90 Orange County 3.8 -19.3 Ventura 21.6 -31.3 Los Angeles 15.5 -21.1 San Diego 11.7 3.5 Riverside/S.B. 31.2 -2.3 Lower Desert 23.0 4.2

Source: California Association of Realtors