Orange County loses 9 million-dollar ZIPs in 4 months

Orange County’s homebuying cooldown has cut the number of million-dollar ZIPs by nine since May.

My trusty spreadsheet, filled with September homebuying stats from CoreLogic for 83 Orange County ZIP codes, shows how home pricing has reversed since spring. “Expensive” ZIPs are those with a median selling price of $1 million and higher while “affordable” neighborhoods are those with medians of $750,000 or below.

Let’s look at how the ranks of expensive and affordable communities have changed since early summer …

September: 38 seven-figure ZIPs with 1,019 sales —  45% of all purchases vs. 10 affordable ZIPs with 261 sales, or 11% of all purchases.

August: 41 million-dollar ZIPs with 1,296 sales —  51% of all purchases vs. 8 affordable ZIPs with 227 sales, or 9% of all purchases.

July: 45 seven-figure ZIPs with 1,210 sales —  53% of all purchases vs. 11 affordable ZIPs with 129 sales, or 6% of all purchases.

June: 45 million-dollar ZIPs with 1,500 sales —  54% of all purchases vs. 7 affordable ZIPs with 137 sales, or 5% of all purchases.

May: 47 seven-figure ZIPs with 1,524 sales —  52% of all purchases vs. 8 affordable ZIPs with 324 sales, or 11% of all purchases.

Still, the ranks of million-dollar ZIP codes have grown over two years as the tally of affordable communities shrank due to the pandemic era’s homebuying binge.

September 2021: 29 million-dollar ZIPs with 1,261 transactions —  37% of all purchases and 19 “bargain” ZIPs with 609 sales or a 18% slice.

September 2020: 17 ZIPs above $1 million with 481 closings — a 31% slice vs. 45 sub-$750,000 ZIPs with 1,084 purchases, or 69% of all sales.

These swings are mirrored in the countywide median price. At $950,250 for September, it was up 7% in one year, but the latest price is 9% off May’s $1.054 million record high.

Times have changed. Lofty pricing and sharply rising mortgage rates have scared off house hunters.

September had 34% fewer sales at all price levels countywide compared with a year earlier. The 38 seven-figure ZIPs saw 41% fewer sales. ZIPs below $750,000 were down 23%.

Let’s look at which communities landed in Orange County’s million-dollar club in September — and the more affordable neighborhoods.

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/septemberpriceoc)

New to the club

These nine, million-dollar ZIP codes were not a clubmember in September 2021 …

• Brea 92823: $1.6 million — up 76%.
• Yorba Linda 92887: $1.2 million — up 42%.
• Irvine 92606: $1.1 million — up 47%.
• Orange 92867: $1.1 million — up 19%.
• Yorba Linda 92886: $1.1 million — up 10%.
• Lake Forest 92630: $1.1 million — up 16%.
• Irvine 92612: $1.1 million — up 37%.
• Foothill Ranch 92610: $1 million — up 23%.
• Laguna Niguel 92677: $1 million — up 7%.

Still members

The 29 ZIPs returning to the seven-figure club …

• Newport Coast 92657: $8.9 million — up 120%.
• Newport Beach 92662: $4.5 million — up 29%.
• Laguna Beach 92651: $3.3 million — up 23%.
• Newport Beach 92661: $2.8 million — off 40%.
• Corona del Mar 92625: $2.7 million — up 10%.
• Newport Beach 92660: $2.7 million — up 40%.
• Irvine 92602: $2.4 million — up 59%.
• Villa Park 92861: $2.2 million — up 48%.
• Dana Point 92624: $1.8 million — up 27%.
• Irvine 92603: $1.8 million — up 13%.
• Newport Beach 92663: $1.8 million — off 5%.
• Dana Point 92629: $1.7 million — up 30%.
• San Clemente 92672: $1.7 million — up 43%.
• San Clemente 92673: $1.6 million — up 18%.
• San Juan Capistrano 92675: $1.6 million — up 23%.
• Irvine 92618: $1.5 million — up 39%.
• Huntington Beach 92649: $1.5 million — up 41%.
• Irvine 92620: $1.4 million — up 14%.
• Laguna Hills 92653: $1.4 million — up 38%.
• Huntington Beach 92648: $1.4 million — up 19%.
• Trabuco/Coto 92679: $1.3 million — up 2%.
• Los Alamitos 90720: $1.3 million — off 6%.
• Seal Beach 90740: $1.2 million — off 27%.
• Costa Mesa 92627: $1.2 million — up 13%.
• Santa Ana 92705: $1.2 million — up 3%.
• Costa Mesa 92626: $1.1 million — up 4%.
• Fountain Valley 92708: $1.1 million — up 10%.
• Irvine 92604: $1.1 million — up 3%.
• Tustin 92782: $1.1 million — off 4%.

O.C. ‘bargains’

And the 10 sub-$750,000 ZIPs …

• Anaheim 92805: $726,000 —  up 2%.
• Anaheim 92801: $705,000 —  up 4%.
• Santa Ana 92707: $700,000 —  up 14%.
• Santa Ana 92703: $682,250 —  up 8%.
• Stanton 90680: $680,000 —  off 1%.
• Garden Grove 92844: $657,500 —  up 7%.
• Orange 92868: $647,500 —  up 12%.
• Santa Ana 92704: $630,000 —  off 5%.
• Santa Ana 92701: $500,000 —  up 20%.
• Laguna Woods 92637: $377,500 —  off 2%.

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

 

Source: Orange County Register