Housing remains hot, other real estate holds on





By John Loesing
Acorn Staff Writer

Area housing prices should remain at record levels for 2003 despite fears of a real estate bubble that could burst just like the stock market, according to industry experts.


The median home price in Ventura County has doubled during the past 10 years to more than $400,000, according to information from the seventh annual Ventura County Commercial Real Estate Symposium hosted by CB Richard Ellis.


In Santa Barbara, the median-priced home is $750,000.


"We’re on a very vigilant bubble watch," said Mark Schniepp, director of the California Economic Forecast.


"The key word is speculative. To what extent are we seeing speculation in the market for housing?


"I don’t see a high propensity for that," Schniepp said. "Whether you have a bubble or not is not the issue. The issue is whether it bursts."


Because little multi-family housing has been built in Ventura County, the price for single-family homes remains high, Schniepp said.


Demand for other types of commercial real estate will continue to be soft, but should see improvement this year, forecasters said.


"Office vacancy rates will drop in 2003 due to a decrease in office construction, a decrease in the flow of sublease space and local tenant expansion," said Tom Dwyer, a CB Richard Ellis office property expert.


Despite generally lethargic leasing markets throughout Southern California, office and industrial properties continued to attract investment capital.


"Real estate is starting to look like a pretty good play," said Lewis Horne, CB Richard Ellis managing director.


According to Marc Riches, vice president of NAI Capital Commercial, "There’s a lot of money chasing very few available properties."


Major local commercial real estate transactions last year included Countrywide Financial Corp. spending $50 million on three buildings in Agoura Hills and Thousand Oaks, and Baxter Pharmaceuticals purchasing the $80 million Verizon building in Thousand Oaks.


Joni and Friends, a Christian ministry organization, closed on a $4.27 million deal to purchase the Spectrum Club in Agoura Hills, Dwyer said. Spectrum Club will remain as a tenant in the 27,200 square-foot building for one more year, until the new owner comes in.


"Joni and Friends will occupy the building and convert the building from a gym to an office building," Dwyer said.


In other 2002 deals, Community Health took part in a syndication deal to purchase an extra 22,000 square feet of office space at the Agoura Hills Town Center.


The biggest retail project on the horizon will be the Rick Caruso shopping and entertainment complex that’s planned to be built next to the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza.



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