The pandemic era’s homebuying binge turned 34% of Orange County into million-dollar neighborhoods while nearly wiping “affordable” communities.
My trusty spreadsheet, filled with September homebuying stats from DQNews/CoreLogic for 83 Orange County ZIP codes, showed how home pricing has changed in the past two years for “expensive” ZIPs (median selling prices $1 million and higher) vs. “affordable” neighborhoods (medians of $666,667 or below).
Yes, I know that $666,667 is a lot of money, but at the start of 2017, $666,667 bought you a median-priced Orange County home.
Here’s what was found …
September: 29 seven-figure ZIPs, up 11 in a year. These communities had 1,261 sales — 36% of all O.C. purchases. There were nine affordable ZIPs, down 11 from September 2020. These neighborhoods had 280 sales, or 8% of the market.
August: 29 million-dollar ZIPs with 1,489 purchases — 40% of all deals and eight sub-$666,667 ZIPs with 205 purchases, or 6% of all sales.
September 2020: In the middle of the coronavirus-chilled economy, 18 million-dollar ZIPs with 789 transactions — 21% of all purchases and 20 affordable ZIPs with 722 sales, or 19% of the market.
September 2019: Pre-pandemic, 10 seven-figure ZIPs with 238 closings — 8% of all deals and 33 sub-$666,667 ZIPs with 916 purchases, or 32% of all sales.
How did this happen? The pandemic spurred a homebuying feeding frenzy, created by low interest rates, few homes for sale and a thirst for larger living spaces.
The latest countywide median price of $890,000 is up 13.4% in one year after 8.6% gains in the previous 12 months. That’s an increase of $167,200 over two years — or gains averaging $6,967 a month.
Appreciation can be found is almost every corner of the county. Prices rose in 94% of local ZIPs in the past year and in 81% of O.C. neighborhoods in the previous 12-month period.
Note that monthly sales data for individual ZIP codes can be volatile, so price trends may reflect a different mix of homes sold — not changing values. (Data for all Orange County ZIPs can be found at bit.ly/septemberocpricing.) Here are the new million-dollar ZIPs for September …
Seal Beach 90740: $1.63 million — up 65%.
Irvine 92603: $1.59 million — up 70%.
Irvine 92602: $1.5 million — up 25%.
Irvine 92620: $1.23 million — up 35%.
Irvine 92618: $1.1 million — up 18%.
Tustin 92782: $1.1 million — up 32%.
Costa Mesa 92626: $1.09 million — up 23%.
Irvine 92604: $1.05 million — up 30%.
Huntington Beach 92649: $1.03 million — up 13%.
Costa Mesa 92627: $1.02 million — up 20%.
Laguna Hills 92653: $1 million — up 37%.
Fountain Valley 92708: $1 million — up 13%.
Here are returning members of the million-dollar club for September …
Newport Beach 92661: $4.73 million — up 84%.
Newport Coast 92657: $4.03 million — up 34%.
Newport Beach 92662: $3.50 million — unchanged in 12 months.
Laguna Beach 92651: $2.69 million — up 21%.
Corona del Mar 92625: $2.58 million — off 6%.
Newport Beach 92663: $2.13 million — up 29%.
Newport Beach 92660: $2.05 million — up 7%.
Irvine 92602: $1.50 million — up 25%.
Villa Park 92861: $1.49 million — up 13%.
Dana Point 92624: $1.41 million — off 9%.
San Clemente 92673: $1.37 million — up 24%.
Los Alamitos 90720: $1.36 million — up 21%.
Dana Point 92629: $1.33 million — up 23%.
San Juan Capistrano 92675: $1.32 million — up 32%.
Trabuco/Coto 92679: $1.30 million — up 26%.
San Clemente 92672: $1.19 million — up 15%.
Huntington Beach 92648: $1.16 million — up 6%.
Santa Ana 92705: $1.15 million — up 8%.
And Orange County’s below-$666,667 ZIPs in September …
Santa Ana 92704: $660,000 — up 31%.
La Habra 90631: $657,500 — up 4%.
Tustin 92780: $635,000 — off 15%.
Santa Ana 92703: $630,000 — up 31%.
Garden Grove 92844: $616,000 — up 9%.
Santa Ana 92707: $616,000 — up 13%.
Orange 92868: $580,000 — up 2%.
Santa Ana 92701: $417,750 — up 1%.
Laguna Woods 92637: $386,500 — up 6%.
Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at jlansner@scng.com
Source: Orange County Register
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