Thursday, March 16, 2006
Riverside County No. 2 for U.S. growth
Here's a story about the number of people moving to Riverside County ...
Warm climes, housing 'bargains' fuel explosive growth across desert
March 16, 2006
Doug Abrahms
The Desert Sun Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - Like many who see a balmy bargain in the desert, Al Zappala moved to Indio, cashing in on the high value of his Los Angeles County house to buy something more affordable in the desert.
"I didn't have to put it all back into the house," said Zappala, who is retired from the insurance industry and made the move to the valley in February. "I like the casual desert clothing - it's shorts for most of the day."
Riverside County grew by 76,954 people to about 1.95 million between July 1, 2004, and July 1, 2005, Census Bureau data released today shows. That's the second-largest increase of the nation's 3,086 counties behind Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix.
But as the county nears the 2 million-person mark, challenges persist. More Coachella Valley residents increase the need for schools, roads, parks and jobs.
By 2014, Riverside County will have more students than any other California county except Los Angeles County.
"We're trying to keep a step ahead of it," Peggy Reyes said of the population increase.
The director of facilities for Desert Sands Unified School District said 500 to 800 children have joined the district annually.
The district opened a new middle school and an elementary school last year and is building a high school that should start in 2008, she said.
Meanwhile, the district has added four to six portable classrooms a year to each of its two high schools.
And a recently completed study of all of the Coachella Valley's roadways showed a $2.6 billion need, a dramatic increase from $630 million in 1999.
Where they come from
Unlike U.S. immigration flows to the West Coast during decades past, Americans are relocating east from the Los Angeles and San Diego areas, said William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank. They are relocating to the Inland Empire, Central Valley and even Las Vegas and Phoenix, he said.
By contrast, Los Angeles continues to grow because of an increase in births and a continued influx of immigrants, but that growth is nearly offset by migration to nearby counties and states, Frey said.
"Central California is getting inflows to the coast and then losing people to other states," Frey said. "A lot of it is driven by housing costs.
"As long as California continues to get a lot of immigrants and Californians can keep cashing in their home prices, this will continue," he said.
The median price of a home in the Coachella Valley is about $400,000, compared with $490,000 in Los Angeles County and $617,000 in Orange County, according to research firm DataQuick Information Systems.
In fact, 10 percent of all new U.S. residents moved to three Southwestern counties - Riverside, Maricopa and Clark County, Nev., home to Las Vegas, the Census Bureau reported.
The population growth isn't likely to stop anytime soon.
Some projections show Riverside County could double in size to about 4 million people within the next 20 years.
Growth has added jobs
Riverside County's fast growth has created its own jobs boom, ranging from construction workers to hospital and retail positions, said Hans Johnson, a demographer at the San Francisco-based Public Policy Institute of California.
"It has been the case that for the last several decades, at least the Inland Empire has been the fastest-growing area in the U.S. or one of the fastest-growing areas in the U.S.," he said.
Jan Lewis moved from El Cajon to Indio in November after her husband took a job in the area. The couple was able to buy a 2,100-square-foot house that cost less than what they received for their 1,100-square-foot abode in San Diego County.
Despite a slowdown over the past few months, home sales will continue to grow, said Randy Gutierrez, a real estate agent in Desert Hot Springs. While housing prices have risen over the past two years, they remain lower than in many other parts of the state, said Gutierrez, who moved a few years ago from the Silicon Valley area, where houses were going for $800,000.
"I get a lot of buyers from L.A., Orange County, San Diego," he said. "(The Palm Springs region) is such a huge destination and it's still affordable from a California standpoint."
Christina Storm moved back to Palm Desert with her family in November after living for five years in San Diego, where her husband is stationed in the Navy. They couldn't afford a house in San Diego, but bought one here. Their mortgage is just $400 a month more than what they paid to rent a two-bedroom apartment in San Diego.
"Our little guy (toddler) has a back yard to play in instead of just a balcony," Storm said. "It's huge - all the new development and there's still so much building going on now." Labels: Corona, Foreclosure, Home Prices, Inland Empire, Loan Modification, Moreno Valley, Murrieta, Real Estate, Riverside, Short Sales, Statistics, Temecula
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