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Lansner on Real Estate ~ The latest news about the housing market from Orange County Register columnist Jon Lansner.

Archive for the 'Home prices' Category

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Beach town home sales up 27%

November 8th, 2009, 4:30 pm by Jon Lansner

For the 22 business days ending Oct. 16 – fresh from DataQuick — A region-by-region analysis of homebuying shows Orange County slices up geographically speaking this way …

  • DataQuick identified 506 homes selling in beach cities’ ZIP codes last month, +27% from a year ago. Median selling price? $693,500 in these 17 ZIPs. Last month’s median price change was -6.3% vs. a year ago.
  • South inland ZIPs — median selling price $516,250 – had 830 sales, +20% from a year ago. In these 19 ZIPs, last month’s median price change was +3.6% vs. a year ago.
  • North inland ZIPs — median selling price $455,000 – had 799 sales, +11% from a year ago. In these 23 ZIPs, last month’s median price change was -4.6% vs. a year ago.
  • Mid-county ZIPs — median selling price $351,000 – had 909 sales, -8% from a year ago. In these 24 ZIPs, last month’s median price change was -1.3% vs. a year ago.
  • All told, countywide sales were +5% vs. a year ago. The median selling price was +4% in the past year.

How did your neighborhood fare? Check our ZIP-by-ZIP data HERE!

Other real estate trends:

Posted in: Home prices • Local-Local • Luxury homes • • • | 3 Comments »

O.C. home pricing near longest rise in 4 years

November 6th, 2009, 10:05 am by Jon Lansner
For the 22 business days ending Oct. 16
Slice Price Yr. ago Sales Yr. ago
Houses $495,000 +4.2% 2,018 +5.7%
Condos $308,500 +4.6% 917 +8.8%
New $500,000 +3.1% 168 -19.6%
All O.C. $435,000 +3.6% 3,103 +4.8%

For the 22 business days ending Oct. 16 – DataQuick’s latest homebuying report — Orange County saw …

  • $435,000 median selling price that is $6,000 above September (+1.4%) and would mark the 6th consecutive month of price gains — longest winning streak since 7 up months ended Aug. 2005.
  • Price is +3.6% vs. a year ago and -33% below June 2007’s peak of $645,000.
  • The most recent median is 18% above the cyclical low hit in January 2009 at $370,000 — a current bottom that was -43% below the peak.
  • Prices fell on a year-over-year basis from Sept. 2007 through August. (Worst at -31.5% in August 2008.)
  • Single-family homes resell for 33% less than their peak pricing (June ‘07) while condos sell 34% below their peak in March 2006. Builder prices for new homes are 42% below their February ‘05 top.
  • In this most recent period, O.C. shoppers bought 3,103 residences — that is +4.8% vs. year-ago buying activity. (From 1997-2006, monthly sales averaged 4,304 per month.)
  • September was 15th straight month of sales gains vs. the year-ago period. That follows 33 consecutive months where sales failed to beat the previous year’s pace.

How did your neighborhood fare? Check our ZIP-by-ZIP data HERE!

“Other real estate trends:
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Posted in: DataQuick reports • Top tale • • • | 96 Comments »

Pac 10 has priciest college-town housing

November 6th, 2009, 2:00 am by Jon Lansner
Akron vs. Ohio

Coldwell Banker Real Estate every fall has a little fun with the real estate data, digging into the numbers to create its “College Home Price Comparison Index” to track comparative house-buying costs in various college towns in big-time football leagues. Benchmark residence for the study is a single-family, 2,200 square-foot house with four bedrooms, two and one-half baths.

The Pac 10 conference — home to USC and UCLA football — had the priciest housing. Here’s the rankings, sliced by the major conferences, based on the average selling price this year …

  1. Mid American: $182,322
  2. Conference USA: $210,882
  3. SEC: $222,479
  4. Big East: $237,366
  5. Sun Belt: $242,213
  6. Big 12: $244,431
  7. Mountain West: $251,876
  8. Big 10: $279,787
  9. WAC: $356,528
  10. ACC: $378,062
  11. Independent: $411,444
  12. Pac 10: $747,180

Other findings …

  • Cheapest college town? Akron, Ohio (U. of Akron) with a typical cost of target home was $121,885.
  • Priciest? Palo Alto (Stanford U.) at $1.49 million.
  • 2nd priciest? LA (UCLA and USC) at $1.35 million.

Real estate trends:

Posted in: Home prices • • • | 11 Comments »

O.C. median home price up $60,000 off bottom

October 30th, 2009, 11:10 am by Jon Lansner
For 22 business days ending Oct. 13
Slice Price Yr. ago Sales Yr. ago
Houses $495,000 +4.2% 1,841 +3.0%
Condos $304,000 +3.1% 845 +8.1%
New $500,000 +4.2% 150 -25.7%
All O.C. $430,000 +2.4% 2,836 +2.3%

For the 22 business days ending Oct. 13 – DataQuick’s latest homebuying report — Orange County saw …

  • $430,000 median selling price that is +2.4% vs. a year ago and -33% below June 2007’s peak of $645,000.
  • The most recent median is $60,000 (+16%) above the cyclical low hit in January 2009 at $370,000 — a current bottom that was -43% below the peak.
  • Prices fell on a year-over-year basis from Sept. 2007 through August. (Worst at -31.5% in August 2008.)
  • Single-family homes resell for 33% less than their peak pricing (June ‘07) while condos sell 35% below their peak in March 2006. Builder prices for new homes are 42% below their February ‘05 top.
  • In this most recent period, O.C. shoppers bought 2,836 residences — that is +2.3% vs. year-ago buying activity. (From 1997-2006, monthly sales averaged 4,304 per month.)
  • September was 15th straight month of sales gains vs. the year-ago period. That follows 33 consecutive months where sales failed to beat the previous year’s pace.

How did your neighborhood fare? Check our ZIP-by-ZIP data HERE!

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Other real estate trends:

Posted in: DataQuick reports • Top tale • • | 86 Comments »

Can O.C. home prices jump 16% next year?

October 29th, 2009, 9:39 am by Jon Lansner

It’s outlook season, where various economists, gurus, trade groups and computer models make their guestimates of what local home prices may do for next year. Here’s a sampling of what we’ve covered in recent weeks:

OK. Your time to guess …

2010 O.C. home pricing will be ...
View Results

Real estate news:

Posted in: Home prices • Polls • | 47 Comments »

U.S., LA/OC home prices continue to rise

October 27th, 2009, 10:00 am by Jon Lansner
City Vs. peak Vs. yr. ago
Las Vegas -55% -30%
Phoenix -52% -25%
Miami -47% -19%
Detroit -44% -23%
Tampa -40% -18%
San Fran. -39% -13%
LA/OC -39% -12%
San Diego -39% -9%
20 US cities -29% -11%
Washington -29% -8%
Minneapolis -28% -14%
Chicago -23% -13%
Seattle -22% -15%
Portland -19% -12%
New York -19% -10%
Atlanta -19% -11%
Boston -15% -4%
Cleveland -13% -3%
Charlotte -11% -9%
Denver -7% -2%
Dallas -4% -1%

Local housing was warmer this summer. The S&P/Case-Shiller home-price indexes show LA/OC home prices rising in August (+1.6%) for the 3rd consecutive month-to-month gain — longest such winning streak since September 2006. That’s in line with the national (20-city S&P index) showing its 4th consecutive (+1.1%) month-to-month gain.

Still, local home prices are …

  • Falling at a 12%-a-year clip. (But, that’s smallest annual rate of decline since November 2007.)
  • All told, LA/OC home prices by this math — “paired sales” calculations tracking individual losses/gains vs., say, movement of a broad median index — are off 39% from their September 2006 peak.

As the chart at right shows, we’re by no means alone! Just ponder the 20 U.S. cities S&P tracks, by looking at current pricing vs. their respective city peaks plus the 1-year change in pricing.

Nationally, the S&P report says …

“While many of the markets remain down versus this time last year, the relative rate of decline has shown some real improvement. California, in particular, has seen some real positive prints in recent months. We see this general trend whether you look at the as-reported data or the seasonally adjusted figures. Once again, however, we do want to remind people of the upcoming expiration of the Federal First-Time Buyer’s Tax Credit in November and anticipated higher unemployment rates through year-end. Both may have a dampening effect on home prices.”

Previous S&P index coverage IS HERE!

Luxury real estate trends:

Posted in: Home prices • Top tale • • • | 74 Comments »

Largest Calif. home price gains in 3 O.C. cities

October 27th, 2009, 2:00 am by Marilyn Kalfus, real estate reporter

Three cities in the state’s Top 10 for median home price gains in September are in Orange County, the California Association of Realtors reports. It was the 7th month in a row that median prices went up in California.

In Orange County:

City Yr. gain
San Juan Cap 40.2%
San Rafael 30.5%
Moorpark 29.8%
Thousand Oaks 20.7%
Calabasas 19.3%
Lake Forest 17.7%
Walnut 13.6%
El Cajon 13.5%
Tustin 13.1%
Big Bear Lake 12.1%
  • The overall median price in September was $496,790 down 0.5% from August and down 0.2% from September, 2008.
  • Sales were up 9.4% from September 2008, and up 0.7%  from August.
  • The county’s unsold inventory was at 5.8 months in September, compared with 6 months in August and 7.6  months in September 2008.
  • Time that O.C. homes spent on the market: 35.4 days in September, compared with 33.7 days in August and 43.5 days in September a year ago.

Newport Beach was among the Top 10 cities in the state for median home prices in September, at $1,050,000.

Statewide:

  • Home sales increased 2.1% in September compared with the same period a year ago.
  • The median price of an existing, single-family detached home in September was $296,090, a  7.3% decrease from the $319,310 median for September 2008, but up 1.1% from August’s $292,960.
  • The state’s unsold inventory in September was at  4.2 months, compared to 6.5 months last September.
  • Thirty-year fixed-mortgage interest rates averaged 5.06% in September, compared with 6.04% in September, 2008, according to Freddie Mac. Adjustable-mortgage interest rates averaged 4.59% in September, compared with 5.14% in September a year ago.

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Posted in: Home prices • Top tale • • | 40 Comments »

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