West County Home Sales Up in Riverside

A total of 1,447 new homes were sold in western Riverside County during the first quarter of this year, a 46.9% increase from the fourth quarter of 1984, according to Residential Trends, a quarterly housing report by Market Profiles of Costa Mesa.

The 12% first-quarter sales increase in the county as a whole was credited largely to the performance of the western portion, which included 135 developments in Riverside, Corona, Sunnymead, Perris, Lake Elsinore, San Jacinto/Hemet and Rancho California.

Western Riverside County accounted for 82.7% of all the county’s sales, offsetting a 48.1% decline in the eastern part of the county. The average sales price rose from $88,681 to $92,497 but interest rates, about two points below those of last year’s fourth quarter, offset the increase, the report said.