Southland Home Values Continue to Rise

Southern California home values continued to rise during the third quarter but at a slower pace, a real estate research firm reported. Los Angeles County led the region with a 13.8% surge in the third quarter, nearly double the national average of 7%, according to Nima Nattagh, director of research for Anaheim-based First American Real Estate Solutions, which compiled the report. Prices rose 7.8% during the same period in the Riverside-San Bernardino area. Orange County, which experienced a 14.5% year-over-year increase during the first quarter of this year, saw home values increase by just 5.7% last quarter. But unlike its Southern California counterparts, homes in Orange County are worth 9.6% more than at the beginning of the decade. The typical Los Angeles homeowner who bought in 1990 is likely to be in a negative equity situation by 6.1%, with that figure rising to 13.6% for homeowners in the Riverside-San Bernardino area. But homes in those communities are continuing to recover from the dramatic downturn of the early ‘90s. U.S. home values on average are now 29% higher than they were in 1990. San Diego County ranks as the Southern California area with the strongest gain so far this decade: Homes there are worth 17.4% more than they were in 1990.