Valley Home Prices Sink to 1987 Price Levels, But Sales Rise : Real estate: January’s median sale price was $165,000, same as in August, 1987. But the number of sales inched upward, compared to the same period last year.

Ronald Reagan was President and the Los Angeles Lakers were basketball champions the last time the median sales price of a single-family house in the San Fernando Valley was $165,000. History was repeated last month, at least in the Valley housing market.

The $165,000 median sales price in January for a Valley house was down 11% from a year earlier, and hit the same price level as August, 1987, according to the San Fernando Valley Assn. of Realtors. January’s median sales price was also $3,500 lower than the median recorded in December. The median is the price at which half of the houses sold for more, and half for less.

Overall, the local housing market followed a trend that carried through all of last year, as sales of existing single-family houses and condominiums in the San Fernando Valley rose, but sale prices continued to slide.

A total of 757 residential properties were sold in the Valley area last month, nine more than in the same month a year ago, according to the association. Last month’s total was down 35% from the 1,170 units sold in December, partly because rising interest rates curtailed sales, and partly because the local market slipped into its usual winter doldrums.

Sales of single-family houses totaled 638 in January, four more than a year earlier, but down 35% from the 983 houses that closed escrow in December. The average sale price of a single-family house tumbled to $221,100 in January, down 2% from December, and 6% below the $234,200 average sale price in January, 1994.

Jim Link, executive vice president of the Valley realtors association, said last month’s statistics reflect recent interest rate hikes, which have made buying a house more expensive and discouraged shoppers, especially first-time buyers who had been snapping up bargains in low-price market segments. “The telltale sign will be what happens with interest rates over the next few months,” Link said.

The inventory of single-family houses for sale totaled 5,564 last month, down 24% from a year earlier, but up 4% from December.

Condominium sales in the Valley totaled 119 in January, five more than in the previous month, but 36% below the 187 sales recorded in January, 1994. The average condominium price fell to $104,600 last month, down 19% from a year earlier, and about even with December’s average. The median condominium price last month dropped to $93,500, 25% below the median from the same month a year earlier, and down 5% from December.

The Jan. 17, 1994, Northridge earthquake had a major impact on the local housing market, and triggered many foreclosed properties to be put up for sale by lenders, which helped drive sale prices down. But real estate sales statistics are based on escrows already in progress, so statistics from January, 1994, do not reflect the market disruption caused by last year’s quake.

The Valley realty association, the largest in California, reports housing sales by its 7,200 members from North Hollywood to Calabasas. Its figures do not include sales of most new residences.

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January Valley House Sales

NORTHWEST

Avg. Price: $201,400

Sales: 37

NORTH CENTRAL

Avg. Price: $202,700

Sales: 96

NORTH EAST

Avg. Price: $134,400

Sales: 103

SOUTH WEST

Avg. Price: $271,000

Sales: 177

SOUTH CENTRAL

Avg. Price: $254,100

Sales: 101

SOUTH EAST

Avg. Price: $215,000

Sales: 124