O.C.’s November Home Sales Jump 13% to Nine-Year High

After an October dip linked to Wall Street’s woes and an interest rate spike, Orange County’s housing market rebounded sharply in November as sales for the month hit their highest level in nine years.

Prices followed suit, climbing 9% from a year ago to a median $229,000, Acxiom/DataQuick Information Services reported Tuesday.

“Prices are still going up, and I don’t think that there’s much that’s going to stop it,” said Acxiom statistician John Karevoll. “The economy is too strong and the interest rates are too low.”

The number of homes sold jumped 13%, to 3,578, the most homes sold in November since 1989.

The median price--half the sales were for more and half for less--would have been higher except for a sharp increase in condominium sales, Karevoll said.

While home resales were 4% higher than in November 1997, sales of less-expensive condos surged 59%, pulling down the median price.

Rising resale prices have made condos more tempting to first-time buyers and longtime homeowners ready to “downsize,” said Bill Plattos, general manager of First Team Real Estate Inc., the county’s largest residential brokerage.

Plattos said would-be landlords, mindful of sharply increasing rents in the county, also may be snapping up condos that they intend to lease.

With less expensive homes accounting for more of the sales mix, the median price has remained in the $230,000 range for five months.

Contributing to the strong sales pace this late in the year is a more favorable interest-rate environment.

In 1990, when Orange County prices peaked at levels only recently achieved again, mortgage rates exceeded 10%. With conventional loan rates now in the 6% to 7% range, the monthly mortgage payment for an equivalent home is about 25% lower these days.

Nor are there signs that many buyers are straining to afford their purchases. At $34,500, the average down payment is still a relatively high 15% of the median-priced home, Karevoll said.

And the number of buyers choosing easier-to-get adjustable rate mortgages was just 18%. During the last 10 years, about half of Orange County buyers on average chose adjustable loans, a figure that rose as high as two-thirds in late 1994.

Analysts attributed a 6% year-to-year decline in October sales to a brief uptick in mortgage rates and a drop in stock prices. Since then, stocks have rebounded sharply and interest rates have settled back to low levels.

“The interest rate really helped us a lot,” said Michelle Blodgett, who moved into a two-story, five-bedroom home in a tree-shaded section of Fullerton over the weekend. “We locked in 6.3% for 30 years.”

Blodgett and her husband Kurt, both 29, wanted to raise their two children in Fullerton, where he grew up, and were looking to trade up from a three-bedroom house.

Making a $150,000 down payment from the equity in the old house, they bought the new one for $377,000, figuring they will spend their lives in it.

“We thought prices are going up, and if we’re going to make a move the time is now,” she said.

Interest rates also helped persuade Steven and Vivian Brachman to sell their 2,100-square-foot Cypress home for $320,000 and buy a 2,700-square-foot house in the same city for $369,000.

Although the mortgage is $45,000 more on the new home, “We were at almost 8% on the old home and now we’re at 6 1/2%,” Vivian Brachman said. “It made the payment almost the same.”

Lingering worries about the stock market and the global economy are still giving some high-end buyers doubts about buying now, experts said. Another factor is that the overheated market simply needed a breather.

An example of the huge price increases for expensive homes is an oceanfront South Laguna home that surfing and sailing entrepreneur Hobie Alter sold for $3.5 million in November 1996.

The home, in Three Arch Bay, sold again Sept. 1 of this year, this time for $5.3 million. Such drastic increases clearly cannot continue, experts said.

“The market is settling back down now, taking a pause that was definitely needed,” said Donald E. Moe, the Irvine Co.’s senior vice president for residential sales.

Bill Rolfing, a First Team Nolan broker, said that while 45 Laguna Beach homes have sold for $1 million or more since Aug. 1, there are just four such sales currently pending.

One of Rolfing’s current listings, a north Laguna home on the market for $1.2 million, would have been snapped up at that price in late spring, he said, noting that a smaller home with a less spectacular view nearby sold for $1.2 million in June.

“There was a real buying frenzy in April, May and June. That’s cooled off,” Rolfing said.

Moe said he believes the local market is returning to normal, with gradual price increases.

“I compare this year to a takeoff from John Wayne Airport,” he said. “The market just blasted off, straight up in the air for a while. And then the news hit about Asia, and Wall Street, and it was like we had moved into the noise abatement zone” where jetliners coast softly.

“We’re now entering a period where the market is very positive again.”

* THE NUMBERS

County sales and price figures broken down by ZIP Code. C1

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Lively Market

Fueled by favorable interest rates, November home sales and the median price both exceeded those recorded one year ago:

Monthly Sales

1997: 3,166

1998: 3,578

Median Price

1997: $210,000

1998: $229,000

Orange County Home Sales

The Orange County housing market turned in its most active November of the decade last month. A total of 3,578 homes sold, up 13% from a year ago. It was the highest November total since 1989, when 3,726 homes changed hands. The median price, $229,000, was up 9% from the same month last year.

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Percent Median Percent 97 Med. Community ZIP Sales change price change sq.ft.** Aliso Viejo 92656 151 18.9% $191,000 -9.0% $124 Anaheim 92801 52 62.5% $180,000 22.2% $120 Anaheim 92802 18 0.0% $179,000 6.2% $107 Anaheim 92804 39 -27.8% $172,500 8.2% $116 Anaheim 92805 46 48.4% $167,000 22.3% $116 Anaheim 92806 29 61.1% $200,000 17.6% $99 Anaheim 92807 52 8.3% $244,000 12.2% $120 Anaheim 92808 68 61.9% $291,000 38.2% $133 Brea 92821 28 -20.0% $240,000 15.7% $119 Buena Park 90620 51 13.3% $180,000 9.8% $117 Buena Park 90621 18 -35.7% $139,250 4.3% $100 Corona del Mar 92625 19 -20.8% $759,500 43.3% $258 Costa Mesa 92626 37 -24.5% $242,500 21.3% $134 Costa Mesa 92627 44 12.8% $247,000 28.6% $154 Cypress 90630 54 35.0% $218,750 12.6% $122 Dana Point 92624 5 -37.5% $254,000 1.7% $167 Dana Point 92629 49 14.0% $319,000 19.4% $170 Foothill Ranch 92610 18 -50.0% $272,000 24.6% $107 Fountain Valley 92708 65 -3.0% $255,000 5.2% $124 Fullerton 92831 28 33.3% $169,250 -29.6% $127 Fullerton 92832 12 -7.7% $160,000 10.3% $131 Fullerton 92833 62 67.6% $177,250 -1.8% $128 Fullerton 92835 35 34.6% $290,000 26.5% $138 Garden Grove 92840 50 51.5% $173,000 8.1% $122 Garden Grove 92841 21 -8.7% $168,000 1.8% $116 Garden Grove 92843 23 9.5% $156,000 11.4% $119 Garden Grove 92844 11 -38.9% $156,000 31.6% $116 Garden Grove 92845 22 37.5% $218,000 8.5% $143 Huntington Beach 92646 75 31.6% $233,000 -6.8% $146 Huntington Beach 92647 37 -14.0% $230,000 3.6% $150 Huntington Beach 92648 89 39.1% $395,000 3.3% $154 Huntington Beach 92649 48 6.7% $269,250 12.2% $183 Irvine 92604 31 6.9% $250,000 9.6% $142 Irvine 92606 31 -45.6% $282,000 5.4% $145 Irvine 92612 32 -8.6% $242,250 15.4% $137 Irvine 92614 35 0.0% $200,250 3.1% $170 Irvine 92620 76 33.3% $275,000 -1.8% $133 La Habra 90631 49 19.5% $176,500 19.3% $117 La Palma 90623 19 58.3% $255,000 7.8% $124 Laguna Beach 92651 39 -11.4% $467,500 16.1% $246 Laguna Hills 92653 92 29.6% $191,500 21.6% $125 Laguna Niguel 92677 152 -2.6% $317,000 27.3% $138 Lake Forest 92630 97 27.6% $221,000 16.3% $125 Los Alamitos 90720 20 53.8% $330,000 0.0% $191 Mission Viejo 92691 79 49.1% $234,500 19.0% $128 Mission Viejo 92692 73 -36.0% $294,000 17.8% $128 Newport Beach 92657 35 75.0% $626,500 9.1% $486 Newport Beach 92660 57 7.5% $575,000 21.1% $205 Newport Beach 92661 1 -90.0% $1,050,000 68.0% $336 Newport Beach 92663 35 25.0% $275,000 -50.0% $337 Orange 92865 17 -5.6% $220,000 33.3% $130 Orange 92866 9 28.6% $204,250 10.4% $166 Orange 92867 41 -8.9% $249,000 8.3% $134 Orange 92868 14 40.0% $125,000 -16.9% $130 Orange 92869 77 54.0% $257,000 0.3% $124 Placentia 92870 80 11.1% $201,250 3.2% $116 R. Santa Margarita 92688 133 30.4% $226,000 15.5% $127 S. Juan Capistrano 92675 64 6.7% $292,750 -16.8% $133 San Clemente 92672 64 25.5% $304,000 29.4% $146 San Clemente 92673 29 45.0% $333,500 20.7% $147 Santa Ana 92701 30 7.1% $87,000 15.2% $112 Santa Ana 92703 31 6.9% $133,000 2.3% $125 Santa Ana 92704 69 46.8% $160,000 5.3% $118 Santa Ana* 92705 41 0.0% $275,000 -7.8% $125 Santa Ana 92706 14 -33.3% $164,750 -6.9% $119 Santa Ana 92707 46 -4.2% $153,500 11.2% $122 Seal Beach 90740 10 -37.5% $338,500 38.2% $160 Stanton 90680 31 93.8% $126,500 15.0% $108 Trabuco/Coto 92679 71 -42.3% $353,500 33.4% $132 Tustin 92780 41 28.1% $178,000 1.7% $116 Tustin 92782 57 23.9% $224,000 -18.4% $122 Villa Park 92861 1 -90.9% $650,000 35.4% $140 Westminster 92683 81 28.6% $209,000 21.5% $119 Yorba Linda 92886 51 10.9% $249,000 11.7% $131 Yorba Linda 92887 24 -4.0% $305,000 16.0% $133 Others Q 143 Q Q Q Q Countywide 3,578 13.0% $229,000 9.0% $129

98 Med. Community sq.ft.** Aliso Viejo $147 Anaheim $118 Anaheim $125 Anaheim $114 Anaheim $129 Anaheim $125 Anaheim $144 Anaheim $159 Brea $142 Buena Park $142 Buena Park $129 Corona del Mar $352 Costa Mesa $149 Costa Mesa $197 Cypress $143 Dana Point $248 Dana Point $226 Foothill Ranch $138 Fountain Valley $146 Fullerton $125 Fullerton $134 Fullerton $139 Fullerton $143 Garden Grove $124 Garden Grove $147 Garden Grove $134 Garden Grove $112 Garden Grove $148 Huntington Beach $152 Huntington Beach $173 Huntington Beach $181 Huntington Beach $207 Irvine $179 Irvine $149 Irvine $199 Irvine $175 Irvine $161 La Habra $136 La Palma $132 Laguna Beach $309 Laguna Hills $159 Laguna Niguel $167 Lake Forest $146 Los Alamitos $190 Mission Viejo $152 Mission Viejo $152 Newport Beach $403 Newport Beach $242 Newport Beach n/a Newport Beach $327 Orange $141 Orange $144 Orange $141 Orange $139 Orange $147 Placentia $123 R. Santa Margarita $154 S. Juan Capistrano $160 San Clemente $179 San Clemente $143 Santa Ana $138 Santa Ana $125 Santa Ana $130 Santa Ana* $145 Santa Ana $128 Santa Ana $128 Seal Beach $228 Stanton $109 Trabuco/Coto $157 Tustin $131 Tustin $139 Villa Park $211 Westminster $134 Yorba Linda $152 Yorba Linda $146 Others Q Countywide $147

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**Median resale price per square foot

*Includes Lemon/Cowan Heights

Sales, Price Trends

Monthly Sales

November 1997: 3,166

November 1998: 3,578

Median Price

November 1997: $210,000

November 1998: $229,000

November Sales

1994: 2,646

1998: 3,578

November Median Price

1994: $200,000

1998: $229,000

Source: Acxiom/DataQuick Information Systems