Ventura County Business

In light of the bleak housing market entrenching much of our nation, dating back across the tail end of the decade, almost any news regarding rising home prices is good news. While still far from out of the muck, Ventura County homes have shown some vital signs of life over the past few months, exceeding recent trends and expectations and continuing up a slow hill towards recovery. June numbers indicate the median sale price for new and resold homes was 384,000. This marks a 4,000 increase from the previous month’s number. As compared to June’s numbers a full year ago, this year showed a 19,000 rise in home prices, showing a resiliency in the Ventura County economy as the national economy continues to loom in uncertainty. The 384,000 June price actually indicates the highest median figure for sale price in Ventura County since September 2008, which posted a slightly higher 385,000 median. To further brighten spirits, this is the 8^th month in a row in which the current year’s numbers trend higher than the previous year, indicating at the very least a stepping stone towards recovery.The news is better for some home-sellers than others. For pricier homes, figures are still much slower to rise. As Ventura County features a number of wealthy residents and large estates, it may still take some time for high value property values to return to their lofty price tags. On the other hand, even some of the more reasonably priced homes with marked improvement over the last 12 months would still be considered expensive homes in other areas, as southern California real estate tends to skew much higher than the national average. Therefore, any positive signs of life in the area should not be made light of as it pertains to the housing market. Though progress seems to crawl along at a snail’s pace for many residents, Ventura County is finally trending in the right direction.