Corona Del Mar housing market

The Corona Del Mar housing market, along with the larger Orange County market, seemed to be staying in generally positive territory although the rate of recovery seemed to be slowing. According to a June 6, 2010 article from the Orange County Register, “For the 22 business days ending May 18 – freshest numbers from DataQuick – our region-by-region analysis of homebuying shows Orange County slices up geographically speaking this way…535 homes sold in beach cities’ 17 ZIP codes in the most recent period, +32% from a year ago. Median selling price? $680,000 in these 17 ZIPs. Newest median price change was +6.4% vs. a year ago.” The piece by Jon Lansner went on to say that “All told, countywide sales were +13% vs. a year ago. The median selling price was +13% in the past year.”

According to the most recent whole-month data available, the average purchase price of a Corona Del Mar real estate increased. A May 24, 2010 article from the OC Metro stated that “Orange County’s median home price popped 13.7 percent in April; compared to the same time last year, according to a new report from the California Association of Realtors. The number rose to $491,120, up from $432,110 in the same month last year.” The piece, written by Kristen Schott, went on to note that “In a separate report conducted by C.A.R. and DataQuick, which uses county records data to compile its figures, Orange County’s median home price rose 13.2 percent in April, compared to the same time last year. The number hit $430,000 last month, up from $380,000 in April 2009.”

Corona Del Mar’s housing market, along with the rest of the Newport Beach region, was among the most active in recent months. According to a June 2, 2010 article from the Orange County Register by Jon Lansner, “Newport Beach 92660 – from Back Bay to around Fashion Island to the toll road – had Orange County’s zippiest housing market in the most recently concluded quarter…Second strongest was Newport Beach 92663 – from the pier up to around Hoag Hospital – followed by Irvine 92614 as third best.”

Seal Beach real estate market

The Seal Beach real estate market, one of the many constituent markets of the Orange County housing market, faced generally positive but mixed signals in the most recent tracking period. According to a May 11, 2010 article from OCLNN, “Fewer Orange County homeowners received notices of default in April, the first step in the foreclosure process, compared to the previous month and in April 2009, a positive sign in the housing market’s rebound.” The piece, written by Mike Reicher, continued to note that “According to Bay Area-based ForeclosureRadar.com’s monthly ‘California Foreclosure Report,’ 1,671 homes were given notices of default, compared to 2,059 in March and 3,031 in April 2009. At the same time, the number of foreclosed homes sold or repossessed continues to rise, indicating that banks may be working through their backlog. There were 583 homes either sold to a third party or repossessed by the bank in April…”

However, the average price of a Seal Beach real estate declined slightly in April compared to last month. According to a May 24, 2010 article from the Orange County Business Journal, “The median price of an existing Orange County home declined by $2,000 in April from March, with demand still strong for lower-priced distressed properties both here and across the state, the California Association of Realtors said on Monday.” The piece by Mark Mueller continued to say that “The median price for an existing stand-alone OC home sold in April was $491,120, a less than 1% decline from March, but a nearly 14% increase from a year ago. The number of sales here rose 15% from a year earlier but edged down 1.4% from March, the Realtor association said.”

However, these same statistics indicated that the average sales price in the Seal Beach housing market actually increased year-over-year. According to a May 24, 2010 article in the Orange County Register, “The latest version is out, and the group – HQ’d at Cal Poly Pomona – found Orange County values (from an average movement in values from reviews of 39 sample homes) up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis…That seems a confirmation of other rising price markers that home prices have – at least, temporarily – bottomed out.”