Higher Rates Put a Brake on Home Sales : Economy: April level still highest in five years for California. Analysts say national recovery has slowed to sustainable pace.

Rising interest rates kept home sales in California and the rest of the United States from growing even hotter last month and put a damper on factory orders for big-ticket goods, as the economy showed some early signs of a slower--but healthy--second half of 1994.

Home sales in California remained at their highest level in five years in April, the California Assn. of Realtors said Wednesday, and prices rose as the supply of homes for sale dwindled. Analysts said sales might have moved even higher if mortgage rates had not jumped nearly 1 1/2 percentage points in recent months.

Home sales across the country eked out a modest 1.2% gain, the National Assn. of Realtors said in a separate report.

And in a third report, the Commerce Department said a sharp drop in the production of autos and steel limited durable-goods orders to a modest 0.1% increase in April from March.

Many analysts said the three reports paint a picture of a healthy economy whose growth is slowing to a more sustainable rate.

“The economy can’t run 90 miles an hour forever,” said Robert Dederick, chief economist at Northern Trust Co. in Chicago. “It looks like the stage is being set for very nice but reasonable growth in the second half of the year.”

Although California’s home-resale rate in April was virtually identical to that of March, it was 30% faster than a year ago, the state’s realty trade group said.

The median price of a home in the state rose a sharp 1.1% to $185,230 last month.

Durable Goods

New orders, in billions of dollars, seasonally adjusted:

April, ‘94: 147.0

Source: Commerce Department