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Orange County: 31% million-dollar ZIPs, 6% ‘bargain’ neighborhoods

Remember April 2020 and a real estate market iced by coronavirus?

Who knew the number of million-dollar Orange County neighborhoods would grow by 12 in the next 12 months as rapid appreciation also meant eight fewer “affordable” ZIP codes, communities with sales prices under $600,000.

My trusty spreadsheet, filled with April’s Orange County homebuying stats from DQNews/CoreLogic, found 26 of the county’s 83 ZIP codes with median selling prices above $1 million vs. 14 a year earlier. Total closed sales of all residences — existing and new, single-family houses and condos — were 3,920 countywide. That was up 98% from April 2020’s locked-down economy.

Those seven-figure communities — 31% of all Orange County ZIPs — had 1,503 purchases in the month, equaling 38% of all homes sold countywide. In April 2020, 689 residences were sold in ZIPs with $1 million-plus medians, or 35% of transactions.

Why? The pandemic era’s buying binge created by cheap loans and few homes for sale. Look at the countywide median for the month: a record-breaking $872,750 was up 15.6% in a year. The year’s $117,800 price gain was topped in 38 of 83 neighborhoods Overall, prices rose in 75 of 83 ZIPs.

Bubble Watch tracks housing risks. Read it here!

At the other end of the pricing spectrum, Orange County’s “bargain” communities — medians of $600,000 and below — numbered five vs. 13 a year earlier. Yes, I know $600,000 is a lot of money.

This puts these lower-priced communities at 6% of all Orange County ZIPs — and 62% fewer sub-$600,000 ZIPs in a year.

April’s sales in these “affordable” ZIPs were 152 — making “bargains” 3.9% of purchases. In April 2020, 84 purchases were in “bargain” ZIPs — or 4.2% of all sales.

By the way, in March there were 22 million-dollar ZIPs and seven “affordable” communities.

Here are the million-dollar ZIPs, highlighting communities new to the club, for April …

Newport Beach 92662: $4.65 million — up 45% in a year.

Newport Beach 92661: $3.29 million — unchanged in 12 months.

Newport Coast 92657: $3.09 million — up 4%.

Corona del Mar 92625: $2.68 million — off 8%.

Irvine 92603: $2.38 million — up 79%.

Newport Beach 92660: $2.25 million — up 12%.

Laguna Beach 92651: $2.25 million — up 48%.

Villa Park 92861: $1.74 million — up 54%.

Newport Beach 92663: $1.6 million — up 46%.

Dana Point 92624: $1.54 million (new) — up 69%.

Irvine 92602: $1.5 million — off 2%.

Seal Beach 90740: $1.39 million — up 24%.

Huntington Beach 92648: $1.26 million — up 22%.

Dana Point 92629: $1.25 million — up 4%.

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

Huntington Beach 92649: $1.2 million (new) — up 62%.

Los Alamitos 90720: $1.2 million — off 13%.

San Clemente 92673: $1.2 million (new) — up 23%.

Trabuco/Coto de Caza 92679: $1.17 million (new) — up 36%.

San Juan Capistrano 92675: $1.13 million (new) — up 47%.

San Clemente 92672: $1.12 million (new) — up 15.6%.

Laguna Niguel 92677: $1.12 million (new) — up 46%.

Irvine 92618: $1.07 million (new) — up 16%.

Yorba Linda 92887: $1.05 million (new) — up 7%.

Irvine 92620: $1.04 million (new) — up 14%.

Yorba Linda 92886: $1 million (new) — up 15%.

Here’s Orange County’s lowest-priced ZIPs in April …

Stanton 90680: $585,000 — up 39% in a year.

Santa Ana 92707: $575,000 — up 6%.

Santa Ana 92704: $555,000 — up 7%.

Laguna Woods 92637: $435,000 — up 27%.

Santa Ana 92701: $310,000 — off 1%.

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


Source: Orange County Register

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