MARCH 2014 SOUTH ORANGE COUNTY REAL ESTATE NEWS

Winter Sunset from Montage Resort
by Gregory Schaeffer

Southland Home Sales Drop in January; Price Picture Mixed

SoCal logged its lowest January home sales in three years as buyers continued to wrestle with a tight inventory of homes for sale, a fussy mortgage market and the highest prices in years. The median price paid for a home dipped from December – a normal seasonal decline – but remained 18% higher than January last year.

The Economy: Is growing, but Southland home sales have fallen on a year-over-year basis for four consecutive months now and remain well below average. Why? We’re still putting a lot of the blame on the low inventory. But mortgage availability, the rise in interest rates and higher home prices matter, too.

Pent Up Demand, Inventory: Two of the bigger questions hanging over the housing market right now is, “How much pent-up demand is left out there? And  will inventory skyrocket this year as more owners take advantage of the price run-ups? Unfortunately, we’ll probably have to wait until spring for the answers. When it comes to statistical trends, January and February are atypical months that haven’t proven to be predictive over the years.

Upper End of the Market: The number of homes sold in many middle and up-market areas continued to rise on a year-over-year basis last month, while more affordable markets generally saw less activity than a year earlier.

*Source DQNews 2/14/14

Trending:

Sales Volume is down to 2,105 versus 2,252 a year ago

Average Home Payment is $2,593.68

Inventory is up 5,283 up from 5,087 just one month ago

Mortgage Defaults 378, down 14.9% versus one month ago

Foreclosures 73, down 36.5% versus one month ago

Average Days on Market 2.22 months (64 days)


*Updated 3/17/14

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FEBRUALY 2014 SALES STATISTICS FOR LAGUNA BEACH:

193 active listings
30 in escrow
24 closed sales from 2/01/14 - 28/14

24 closed sale statistics:
5 sales under $1 million
6 sales $1-2 million
5 sales $2-3 million
3 sales $3-4 million
2 sales $4-5 million

1 sale $5,00o,000
1 sale $8,500,000

 *Source CRMLS updated 3/17/14
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COASTAL ZIP CODES BY MEDIAN SALES PRICE FOR JANUARY 2013 COMPARED TO JANUARY 2014:

Balboa Island - 92662 - 2 - $1,950,000 – 18.2%
Capo Beach - 92624 - 6 - $744,000 – 11.8%
Corona del Mar - 92625 - 7 - $2,563,000 – 57.7%
Costa Mesa - 92626 - 15- $680,000 – 25.5%
Costa Mesa - 92627 - 15 - $785,000 – 58.6%
Dana Point - 92629 - 14- $788,000 – 5%
Laguna Beach - 92651 - 20 - $1,400,000 – minus 3.9%
Laguna Niguel - 92677 - 33 - $790,000 – 14.4%
Newport Beach - 92660 - 20 - $1,705,000 – 24.1%
Newport Beach – 92661 – 2 - $2,003,000 – 33.9%

Newport Beach – 92663 – 11 - $1,385,000 – minus 12.6%

Newport Coast – 92657 – 9 - $3,880,000 – 89.3%

San Clemente – 92672 – 25 - $730,000 – 12.1%

San Clemente – 92673 – 26 - $793,000 – 8.6%

*Source DQNews/LATimes 2/28/14

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DECEMBER 2013 SOUTH ORANGE COUNTY REAL ESTATE NEWS

Holidays in Laguna Beach
Include Many Exciting Events for All!

 

 

"Distress Sales Decline As Home Prices Remain Stable"

Indicators of market distress continue to decline. Foreclosure activity remains well below a year-ago and far below peak levels. Financing with multiple mortgages is very low, and down payment sizes are stable. Jumbo loans, mortgages above the old conforming limit of $417,000, accounted for 26.3% of sales.

MEDIAN SALE PRICES: Southern California home buying picked up in October compared with September but fell short of a year earlier as sales in inventory-starved markets and lower-cost markets continued to lag far behind 2012 levels. For the fourth month in a row the region’s median sale price more or less moved sideways, though it was still nearly 22% higher than October 2012.

SALES PRICE INCREASES: It appears that almost all of last month’s price increases reflects rising home prices, while a small portion reflects a change in the price range of homes that sold. Last year there was a large increase in mid- to high-end sales and a big decline in sales of lower-cost distressed properties.

ABSENTEE AND INVESTOR BUYER SALES DOWN: Mostly investors and some second-home purchasers bought 26.5% of the Southland homes sold last month, which is the lowest share for any month since it was 25.1% in November 2011.

"FLIPPING HOMES" INCREASES: 6.5% of homes sold on the open market had previously sold in the prior six months. That’s up from a flipping rate of 6.1% in September and up from 6.0% in October 2012. Flipping peaked at 7.0% February this year and had trended lower most months this year until September. (The figures exclude homes resold after being purchased at public foreclosure auction sales on the courthouse steps).

Source LATimes, DQNews 11/30/13

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NOVEMBER 2013 STATISTICS FOR LAGUNA BEACH:

207 active listings
45 in escrow
28 closed sales from 11/01/13 - 11/30/13

28 Sales for November 2013:
3 sales under $1 million
11 sales $1-2 million
10 sales $2-3 million
1 sale $3,075,000
1 sale $4,010,000

1 sale $5.285,000
1 sale $6,750,000

*Source CRMLS 11/30/13
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COASTAL ZIP CODES BY MEDIAN SALES PRICE FOR OCTOBER 2012 COMPARED TO OCTOBER 2013:

Balboa Island - 92662 - 3 - $2,263,000 – 89.1%
Capo Beach - 92624 - 8 - $790,000 – 16.3%
Corona del Mar - 92625 - 16 - $1,761,000 – 22.1%
Costa Mesa - 92626 - 19- $629,000 – 25.2%
Costa Mesa - 92627 - 33 - $788,000 – 46.622.1%
Dana Point - 92629 - 25 - $910,000 – 25.1%
Laguna Beach - 92651 - 32 - $1,425,000 – 29.5%
Laguna Niguel - 92677 - 53 - $835,000 - 28%
Newport Beach - 92660 - 24 - $1,544,000 – 42.9%
Newport Beach – 92661 – 2 - $1,638,000 – 17%

Newport Beach – 92663 – 16 - $1,450,000 – minus 18.3%

Newport Coast – 92657 – 16 - $2,400,000 – minus 23.1%

San Clemente – 92672 – 23 - $700,000 – 12%

San Clemente – 92673 – 28 - $777,000 – 10.6%

 
*Most zip codes have lower median prices than prior month due to decreases in inventory.

*Source DQNews/LATimes 11/30/13

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