Orange County Home Prices Up $5,000 in January

The median price paid for an Orange County home was $415,000 in January, a $5,000 or 1.2% increase from the prior month, according to San Diego-based MDA DataQuick.

The median price seen here at the end of January is off about 2.4% from year-ago levels.

Prices here now are about 36% below the $645,000 median price seen at the peak of the market, in mid-2007, according to a Tuesday report from DataQuick, a unit of Canada’s MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates.

Median prices in OC now are up about 12% from the bottom of the latest cycle, seen in early 2009.

There were 1,929 sales reported in OC last month. That’s down nearly 30% from December’s levels, but is up 3.3% from year-ago figures.

For all Southern California, January’s median price was $270,000, down about 7% from a month ago and a less than a 1% decline from a year ago.

OC counts the most expensive median home price in the region. Ventura County was the second-priciest Southland county in January, with a $350,000 median price.

Sales volumes for Southern California were off 26% from a month earlier, and were 6% below December’s levels.

Sales volumes typically fall about 28% from December to January, according to DataQuick’s figures.

Cash buyers made up nearly 30% of all January’s transactions in Southern California, indicating a heavy amount of investor activity, according to DataQuick.

Foreclosure resales—homes foreclosed on in the past year—accounted for 37% of the region’s resale market last month, up from 35% a month ago, but down from 42% a year ago.

From an article by Mark Mueller of The Orange County Business Journal