Why did Orange County’s median home sales price enter the million-dollar club?
Well, the pandemic’s homebuying binge more than tripled the number of million-dollar Orange County neighborhoods over 24 months as the market lost three-quarters of its “affordable” communities since March 2020.
My trusty spreadsheet, filled with March homebuying stats from DQNews/CoreLogic for 83 Orange County ZIP codes, showed how home pricing has changed in the past two years. In this example, “expensive” ZIPs have a median selling price of $1 million and higher and “affordable” neighborhoods have medians of $750,000 or below.
Yes, I agree that $750,000 is a lot of money. But as recently as May 2020, $750,000 bought you a median-priced Orange County home.
Let’s look at how expensive and affordable communities have changed …
March: 45 seven-figure ZIPs with 1,688 sales — 53% of all purchases vs. 10 affordable ZIPs with 282 sales or 9% of all purchases. The high-end club included seven ZIPs priced at $2 million or more.
February: 37 seven-figure ZIPs with 1,080 sales — 49% of all purchases vs. 15 affordable ZIPs with 315 sales or 14% of all purchases. The top-shelf group included seven ZIPs prices at $2 million or more.
March 2021: 21 million-dollar ZIPs with 1,013 transactions — 26% of all purchases vs. 30 bargain ZIPs with 1,065 sales or a 27% slice. ($2 million or more: Nine ZIPs.)
March 2020: 14 seven-figure ZIPs with 365 closings — a 13% slice vs. 43 sub-$750,000 ZIPs with 1,300 purchases or 46% of all sales. ($2 million or more: Five ZIPs.)
Why did this happen? Cheap loans, few homes for sale and a thirst for larger living spaces — not to mention growing investor interest — all created a feeding frenzy amongst buyers. And all of this happened as the economy slowly recovered from a pandemic chill.
Those factors bumped the countywide median price to $1.02 million in March — its first time in the seven-figure category. Prices are up 22.2% in one year (that’s a $185,303 gain or $15,442 a month) after gaining 10.6% in the previous 12 months (that’s $79,700 or appreciation at a $6,642 monthly pace.)
Let’s look at what ZIPs landed in the million-dollar club in March — and the cheapest 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/marchpricingoc)
New to the club
ZIPs in the latest million-dollar club that were not a member in March 2021 …
Laguna Niguel 92677: $1.34 million — up 59%.
Irvine 92618: $1.3 million — up 37%.
Laguna Hills 92653: $1.3 million — up 82%.
Costa Mesa 92626: $1.24 million — up 33%.
Orange 92866: $1.23 million — up 56%.
Costa Mesa 92627: $1.22 million — up 32%.
Huntington Beach 92649: $1.22 million — up 30%.
Yorba Linda 92886: $1.21 million — up 31%.
Fountain Valley 92708: $1.21 million — up 34%.
Irvine 92606: $1.2 million — up 26%.
Santa Ana 92706: $1.2 million — up 46%.
Irvine 92604: $1.18 million — up 33%.
Ladera Ranch 92694: $1.13 million — up 20%.
Lake Forest 92630: $1.1 million — up 39%.
Orange 92867: $1.1 million — up 31%.
Brea 92823: $1.09 million — up 16%.
Mission Viejo 92691: $1.07 million — up 29%.
Anaheim 92808: $1.05 million — up 48%.
Midway City 92655: $1.04 million — up 28%.
Still members
ZIPs that hit seven figures and were also club members in March 2021 …
Newport Coast 92657: $3.83 million — up 77%.
Corona del Mar 92625: $3.37 million — up 3%.
Newport Beach 92661: $3 million — up 21%.
Newport Beach 92663: $3 million — up 57%.
Laguna Beach 92651: $2.91 million — up 13%.
Newport Beach 92660: $2.7 million — up 33%.
Dana Point 92624: $2.2 million — up 60%.
Villa Park 92861: $1.95 million — off 10%.
Irvine 92602: $1.8 million — up 33%.
Irvine 92603: $1.7 million — off 18%.
San Clemente 92673: $1.7 million — up 36%.
Dana Point 92629: $1.45 million — up 26%.
Trabuco/Coto 92679: $1.43 million — up 22%.
Los Alamitos 90720: $1.42 million — up 23%.
Irvine 92620: $1.41 million — up 41%.
Santa Ana 92705: $1.4 million — up 17%.
Huntington Beach 92648: $1.38 million — up 31%.
Seal Beach 90740: $1.33 million — up 32%.
Yorba Linda 92887: $1.27 million — up 21%.
San Clemente 92672: $1.23 million — up 18%.
San Juan Capistrano 92675: $1.2 million — up 7%.
O.C. ‘bargains’
And the county’s sub-$750,000 ZIPs …
Stanton 90680: $735,000 — up 23%.
Anaheim 92805: $730,000 — up 16%.
Anaheim 92801: $723,000 — up 10%.
Orange 92868: $680,000 — up 13%.
Garden Grove 92844: $675,000 — off 1%.
Santa Ana 92703: $670,000 — up 19%.
Santa Ana 92707: $640,000 — up 34%.
Santa Ana 92704: $595,000 — up 10%.
Santa Ana 92701: $395,000 — up 26%.
Laguna Woods 92637: $392,500 — up 1%.
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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