ANN WISHART, Valley Press Business Editor
July 23, 2005
Homeowners live American dream in Valley
 
PALMDALE - The American Dream in Antelope Valley real estate is not just owning a great home - it is watching the potential sales value rise as much as 36% in just a year.
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Demand for homes across the state is nowhere stronger than in Southern California. Given the region's limited supply of housing, the amount of money being exchanged for area homes rises every month. The median prices of existing homes has gone up anywhere from 17% to 36.7% in the Valley since June 2004, according to reports from Data Quick News.
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Valley resale home prices have been hovering around the $300,000 mark, with the exception of Acton, where 15 homes sold in June 2005 with a median price tag of $569,000, up 3.5% from the year before. Most of the rest of the Valley has more affordable deals. In Lancaster, median prices ranged between $254,00 and $320,000; in Palmdale, shoppers found homes with median prices from $226,000 to $386,000 in June 2005.
 
While the price of homes has been rising with the heat, so has the price of property on which homes can be built. The price of residential-zoned property on the east side of Palmdale starts around $75,000 an acre. Even when the price goes as high as $125,000, it is still a hot item, said Dianne MacLean, owner/broker of All Star Realty. The price of land has been rising in unincorporated areas as fast or faster than the price of homes in tracts across the Antelope Valley. "The item most in demand is bare land," MacLean said.