Housing Sales Orange County

The most expensive home ever sold in Orange County--a Newport Beach waterfront estate with breathtaking views and rich neighbors--has been bought for about 60% of its record sales price, brokers said. William G.

Home prices in Orange County kept growing vigorously in February, but the number of houses sold plunged for the first time this winter, according to a report Wednesday. The median price of homes sold in Orange County last month surged 14% from a year earlier, to $286,000. The percent increase was double the rate of increase in Los Angeles County, where the median price rose to $206,000. The home value appreciation in both counties was broad-based, including condos and single-family houses.

Architect Tim Good's client wanted to be in Monarch Bay, even if it meant having to build a 7,200-square-foot basement to do it. With Monarch Bay's strict 15-foot height restriction, that was the only place Good could find for the client's new custom racquetball court, maid's quarters, office space, entertainment center and five-car garage--tacked on to what was already a $1.75-million oceanfront home.

Orange County's housing market, the priciest in Southern California, ignored a weakening national economy to reach record prices both for December and for all of last year, according to a survey released Tuesday. Throughout 2000, the county's housing market pushed up monthly prices by double-digit rates 11 times and ended with an overall annual median price of $271,000, rising nearly 13% from a year earlier, according to DataQuick Information Systems Inc., a La Jolla research firm.

This is what new-home seekers can expect to find this year: a diminishing number of Orange County homes to choose from, a rising number of other bidders for those houses, and a higher selection of single-family homes costing far less in Corona and the Inland Empire. Like other analysts, John Burns of the Meyers Group, an Irvine real estate research firm, expects prices to rise in Orange County, but at a slower pace this year than the record rate last year.

As home sales continue to surge throughout the county, Irvine's newest upscale village of Northpark is no exception, with 70 of the community's first 120 homes purchased on the first day of sales. By last week, about 500 buyers filed prequalification packets with the village's nine builders, hoping to be among the community's first residents next spring, Irvine Co. spokesman Paul Kranhold said.

Despite a significant surge in construction, the median price of a new home in Orange County hit an all-time high of $379,000 in the second quarter, a leading real estate research firm said in a report to be released today. The price run-up, a $10,000 increase over the second quarter of 1998, came despite a 42% increase in the number of new homes on the market, said John Burns, senior managing director of Meyers Group, an Irvine firm that tracks new-home sales trends.

While median home prices ended 1998 in Orange County at an all-time high, those who paid cash for their homes dropped nearly to rock bottom. Orange County ranked second only to Alameda County in the Bay Area on the statewide list of areas with the fewest cash purchases. Last year, there were 4,000 home buyers who paid cash--7.5% of the total, according to Acxiom/Dataquick Information Systems, a real estate research firm based in La Jolla. In Alameda County, only 7% of the purchases were in cash.

Orange County's housing market remained in high gear last month, as the median home price matched the all-time high of $241,000 set in May and the price of a typical existing home surged to a new high of $265,000, a real estate research firm reported Wednesday. Buyers snapped up homes and condominiums in record numbers during the month, reflecting the historically low interest rates and soaring consumer confidence that have drawn consumers like moths to light.

The median price of a new house in Orange County rose to $371,990 in the third quarter, a 4.5% increase over a year ago, according to a leading real estate research firm. The increase came although sales dropped 15.5% to 1,510 in the three months ended Sept. 15, a period when rates rose significantly, said the Meyers Group, an Irvine-based company that tracks new home projects nationwide.

Led by spectacular gains in the new-home market, the median price of Orange County houses and condos sold last month jumped by 14% from a year earlier to a new record of $274,000. The surge in August capped a strong summer that analysts said bodes well for homeowners in the coming months. As the county heads into the slower-selling fall season, analysts said there appears to be a clear path to more record-setting prices through December and probably even longer.

Despite prosperous times, the percentage of residents who can afford a home in Orange County and throughout the state continues to decline. Of 173 metropolitan areas nationwide, Orange County ranked 15th from the bottom in the second quarter, according to a new poll by the National Assn. of Home Builders, a Washington, D.C., based trade group. Only 35.7% of Orange County's population could afford to buy a typical home in the last quarter. San Francisco was the least affordable market at 5.

Home sales in Orange County fell sharply in July from a year ago, but analysts said it was not because of slowing demand but rather the thinned supply of houses on the market. Last month, the number of new and existing homes sold plummeted 21% from a year ago, the biggest decline in five years, according to a report released Monday by DataQuick Information Systems, a La Jolla research firm. Despite the sales drop-off, prices last month for virtually every category of homes streaked higher.

This is the height of home-buying season, the best of times for sellers--or at least that's what Sue Epps thought. Epps put up her four-bedroom house in La Verne, with its new kitchen appliances and neatly tended petunias in the yard, expecting a stampede of buyers. But in two months, she's had only two offers, both shockingly low. Even after she ratcheted down her price twice, to $375,000, nobody is calling. Epps, 37, hasn't given up on the market, but she is getting frustrated.

One in five home buyers in Orange County tapped into the stock market to finance their purchases in the fourth quarter, reflecting the stock market's growing influence in the housing industry, according to a new survey. The study, released Tuesday by the California Assn. of Realtors, demonstrates the tangible benefits of the booming stock market but also the economy's greater exposure and vulnerability to Wall Street.

This is what new-home seekers can expect to find this year: a diminishing number of Orange County homes to choose from, a rising number of other bidders for those houses, and a higher selection of single-family homes costing far less in Corona and the Inland Empire. Like other analysts, John Burns of the Meyers Group, an Irvine real estate research firm, expects prices to rise in Orange County, but at a slower pace this year than the record rate last year.

California home prices and sales continued to soar ahead in May, with the statewide median price of a resale home jumping 10.5%, according to a real estate report released Thursday. Home prices also moved up strongly across Southern California, with six of the eight major regions showing gains over a year ago, according to the California Assn. of Realtors. Resale prices in Orange County, which are not seasonally adjusted, continued to rise with the median price climbing 16.2% to $263,230.

The housing market stayed in high gear throughout Southern California in January and shifted into overdrive in Orange County, where prices rose at a double-digit pace not seen since the late 1980s, a real estate data service said Wednesday. Orange County had its third straight month of double-digit price increases, with a median home price of $212,000, a gain of 14.6% from a year earlier, according to Acxiom/DataQuick Information Services, which monitors all housing sales.

In a surprising show of strength, resale home prices in Orange County rose to their highest level ever in February on a pace that could put the typical home cost at $280,000 by the end of the year, a real estate research firm reported Wednesday. The 10.6% increase over the previous February, coupled with a 13.6% increase in the number of homes sold, bolstered what many economists have come to believe: County home prices will continue to rise briskly this year.

A 272-unit Costa Mesa apartment complex across the street from Orange Coast College was sold for $17.8 million, the seller's agent said Friday. The San Francisco-based real estate investment trust BRE Properties Inc. plans to spend $3 million over the next year to improve the 27-year-old complex, called Adams Place Apartments, said Carl Reinhart, president of Irvine-based Peninsula Investment Real Estate, which represented the seller, Newport Beach-based AF Residential LLC.