Orange County Register

Balboa 92662 (Kevin Sullivan/Register)

This blog’s Zippy awards found that Newport Beach’s 92662 –Balboa Island — had the best performance of O.C.’s 83 major ZIP codes in the second quarter.

The Zippys are our attempt to give a little perspective of the housing market at the neighborhood level by ranking O.C. ZIP codes by 3 key performance benchmarks: Pricing strength and sales momentum (year-over-year change) plus foreclosure density (foreclosures per homes.) We used DataQuick figures for the most recent quarter — 2008’s second — and then gave equal weighting to our 3 measurements to compile overall Zippy rating.

Today we’ll focus on Zippys’ Top 25, the best among O.C.’s 83 bigger ZIPs. We already discussed Zippys’ 33 in the middle-of-the-pack (see it HERE!) and the Bottom 25 (see it HERE!) As for Zippys’ Top 25 in the second quarter …

• Newport’s 92662 was ranked #1 because it was top ranked in all three categories.
• 92662 had Newport company with Newport 92663 and Corona del Mar 92625 tied for 9th; Newport 92661 at 13th; and Newport Coast 92657 at 20th.
• Some very inland ZIPs made the Top 25, too: Orange 92869 at 6th; Los Al 90720 at 12th; Fullerton 92835 at 23rd; Cypress 90630 at 24th; and Orange 92866 at 25th.

Looking at the bigger picture, the Zippy Top 25, as a group. when compared to the middle-of-the-pack shows that these worst performers were typically upscale neighborhoods, with median selling prices 42% above the middle. The Top 25’s median loss in pricing is far less and the foreclosure rate is more than half the middle’s BUT sales drops are not only worse that the middle, the top’s homebuying slump is worse than the Bottom 25’s decline, too!

[ DATA ALERT: See all the Zippy data and rankings! CLICK HERE ]

Here’s how the Top 25 and the middle-of-the-pack compare by median measures …

As for the full details of the Top 25 …

In other real estate news …

• Sellers making O.C.’s cheapest homes getting cheaper
• Santa Ana 92701 is O.C. housing’s weakest ZIP; Ladera 3rd worst
• Skipped fees smack homeowner associations
• Pimco thinks Fannie/Freddie rescue will trim housing’s decline
• Foreclosures hit even high-end beach cities
• Time to buy a foreclosure in Surf City?
• How low will mortgage meltdown drag O.C.’s economy?
• Newport Beach is 7th priciest U.S. home market
• O.C. incomes 39% short of home prices
• Rent a bargain vs. homeownership
• Empty apartments spook U.S. rental builders
• Riverside vs. O.C. home discount at 9-year high

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