Housing Sales Rise; Prices Continue to Fall : Real estate: Increase is the first in five months, but figure for the calendar year is 5% less than it was a year ago. Home costs are down 6% from May, 1992.

Housing sales in the San Fernando Valley rose 8% in May from a year earlier, the first increase in five months, the San Fernando Valley Board of Realtors reported Monday. But housing prices continued to tumble.

A total of 977 single-family houses and condominiums changed hands in the Valley in May, compared to 901 a year before, the board reported. In April, 917 residences were sold.

The year-to-year increase was the first since December, when housing sales edged up 3%.

But for all of 1992, only 9,805 units were sold, the first time in a decade that a full year’s sales fell below 10,000.

Despite the gain in May, combined housing sales so far this year are 5% behind the first five months of 1992.

The combined average price of houses and condominiums sold last month was $240,200, down 6% from the $255,500 average in May, 1992.

The median sale price in May was $190,000--which means half the residences sold for more than $190,000 and half for less. Last month’s median price fell 6% from $203,000 a year earlier.

Sales of single-family houses totaled 818 in May, a 17% gain from a year before.

The average price of detached houses sold, however, declined 9% to $259,700 last month from $285,100 a year earlier.

The median price of single-family houses sold in May was $205,000, 7% lower than the $220,000 median price in May, 1992.

Condominium sales remained weak in May, with just 159 units changing hands, down 21% from 200 a year earlier.

The average price of a condominium sold in May was $139,600, 8% lower than the $151,600 average a year before.

The median price last month fell to $143,000 from $145,000 in May, 1992.

The inventory of unsold properties listed for sale continued to dwindle from 1992’s unusually high levels.

A total of 12,676 houses and condominiums were listed for sale in May, down 10% from the 14,161 listings a year earlier.

The number of new listings was flat, at 2,859 compared to 2,871 in May, 1992.

Alice McCain, president of the local realty board, said that the availability of adjustable rate mortgage loans with initial interest rates as low as 4% and declining housing prices have boosted sales, but she was cautious about predicting a full recovery of the housing market.

The main problem, she said, is that sellers still cling to unrealistic expectations about how much buyers are willing to pay.

“Most sellers are too stubborn,” she said. “They refuse to listen to the market realities.”

The Valley realty board, the largest in California, reports housing sales by its 7,900 members in the area from North Hollywood to Calabasas.

Its figures do not include sales of most new residences.

May Valley House Sales

North West

Avg. Price: $280,000

Sales: 45

North Central

Avg. Price: $260,300

Sales: 152

North East

Avg. Price: $157,000

Sales: 111

South West

Avg. Price: $300,500

Sales: 237

South Central

Avg. Price: $260,400

Sales: 114

South East

Avg. Price: $263,900

Sales: 159