Home prices continue to rise in 2004

Alicia Robinson

Single-family home prices in Newport Beach and Costa Mesa continued

their skyward climb in January, with price increases in both cities

surpassing statewide growth, data from the Orange Coast Assn. of

Realtors showed.

The median price for an existing single family home in Costa Mesa

jumped 23.5% to $525,000 in January, up from $425,000 in the same

month in 2003.

In Newport Beach, a median-priced single family home cost $1.4

million last month, a 31.7% increase from the January 2003 median

price of $1.07 million.

As long as interest rates hold and inventory remains low, prices

in the Newport-Mesa housing market will keep going up, local real

estate agents said.

Across the state, the median price for a single-family home rose

20.7% in January compared with the same month in 2003, the California

Assn. of Realtors reported this week. The median price rose from

$336,210 in January 2003 to $405,720 last month.

While the number of homes sold in California in January increased

5.3% when compared with the same month a year ago, the lack of

inventory locally led to a lower number of home sales in January

compared with the same period in 2003.

The competitive market in Newport-Mesa has driven some real estate

agents to use new tactics to do business, said Kent McNaughton, a

Newport Beach sales executive for First Team Real Estate.

Some agents are sending direct mailings to neighborhoods where

their clients want to live to see if any homeowners are open to an

offer, and others are networking on a daily basis with other agents,

he said.

“You literally have to run classified ads in the newspapers

[saying] homes wanted in certain neighborhoods,” McNaughton said.

“Obviously, you have to have complete communication with your

client because once a home is located you have to act immediately.”

As of Wednesday, in the 40,000-home marketplace of Newport Beach

and east Costa Mesa, only 227 single-family homes were for sale, said

Steve High, president of Strada Properties.

“That is just a staggeringly low inventory,” he said. “It is

making us be watchdogs for inventory for our clients.”

High expected interest rates to stay low through 2004, while

McNaughton predicted low rates will last for the next two to three

years.