Home price jumps in 52 Orange County ZIPs top $100,000 over 12 months

Got a spare $100,000?

Why? Well, 52 of Orange County’s 83 ZIP codes saw their median selling price jumped by six figures during the past 12 months.

My trusty spreadsheet, filled with May’s Orange County homebuying stats from DQNews/CoreLogic, found stunning examples at the neighborhood level of how the pandemic era’s homebuying binge has exploded prices.

High-end growth: The number of Orange County ZIP codes with median prices of $1 million and more grew by 10 to 25 in the year since lockdowns began in earnest in May 2020. (Note: We had 26 such ZIPs in April! Have we peaked?)

Share surges: Those seven-figure communities — 30% of all Orange County ZIPs — had 1,287 purchases in the month, equaling 37% of all homes sold countywide. In May 2020, 213 residences were sold in ZIPs with $1 million-plus medians, or 13% of transactions.

At the other end of the pricing spectrum, appreciation’s so steep, my definition of an Orange County “bargain” community has changed, making a $66,667 increase to a $666,667 maximum.

Less low-end:  And even two-thirds of a million bucks is a rare price tag. The county had only nine bargain ZIPs last month, down from 11 in April and 26 a year earlier. Thus, 65% fewer sub-$666,667 ZIPs in 12 months.

Share shrinks: May’s sales in these “affordable” communities were 309 — or 8.9% of all purchases. In May 2020, 364 purchases were in bargain ZIPs — or 22.3% of all sales.

Overall: This feeding frenzy created by low mortgage rates and a low inventory of homes for sale has altered the price landscape countywide. The O.C. median for May was $895,000, up 19.3% in a year. Yes, that’s a $144,800 price gain in just 12 months. And 62% of ZIPs (52 of 83 total) had price gains above $100,000 as prices rose in 74 of 83 ZIPs.

Buyers: Apparently, house hunters are not too bothered by the price gains. Total closed sales of all residences — existing and new, single-family houses and condos — totaled 3,491 countywide. It was the fastest-selling May in three years and up 113% from pandemic-chilled May 2020.

Here are Orange County’s million-dollar ZIPs, highlighting communities new to the club, for May …

Newport Beach 92662: $3.47 million median sales price — up 29% from May 2020.

Newport Coast 92657: $3.23 million — off 34%.

Corona del Mar 92625: $2.85 million — up 17%.

Laguna Beach 92651: $2.66 million — up 19%.

Newport Beach 92661: $2.58 million — up 7%.

Newport Beach 92660: $2.17 million — up 21%.

Newport Beach 92663: $2.03 million — up 84%.

Irvine 92603: $1.71 million — off 23%.

Villa Park 92861: $1.71 million — up 22%.

Irvine 92602: $1.47 million — off 2%.

Seal Beach 90740: $1.43 million (new) — up 49%.

San Juan Capistrano 92675: $1.40 million (new) — up 75%.

Irvine 92620: $1.33 million (new) — up 38%.

Dana Point 92629: $1.31 million (new) — up 31%.

San Clemente 92673: $1.27 million — up 23%.

Trabuco/Coto 92679: $1.26 million (new) — up 34%.

San Clemente 92672: $1.25 million (new) — up 37%.

Santa Ana 92705: $1.22 million (new) — up 31%.

Dana Point 92624: $1.14 million (new) — up 18%.

Los Alamitos 90720: $1.12 million — off 16%.

Yorba Linda 92886: $1.11 million (new) — up 38%.

Irvine 92618: $1.09 million (new) — up 21%.

Huntington Beach 92649: $1.06 million — off 20%.

Huntington Beach 92648: $1.06 million — up 1%.

Ladera Ranch 92694: $1 million (new) — up 27%.

And Orange County’s sub-$666,667 ZIPs in May …

La Habra 90631: $637,500 median — up 18% in a year.

Anaheim 92805: $630,000 — flat vs. May 2020.

Garden Grove 92844: $620,000 — up 5%.

Santa Ana 92703: $602,000 — up 14%.

Santa Ana 92707: $580,000 — up 3%.

Stanton 90680: $550,000 — up 15%.

Santa Ana 92704: $535,000 — up 47%.

Laguna Woods 92637: $410,000 — up 32%.

Santa Ana 92701: $335,000 — flat vs. May 2020.

Note: Price data for all O.C. ZIPs can be found at bit.ly/mayprices21

Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at jlansner@scng.com

Source: Orange County Register