Home Sales Dive Across Lake Forest: Orange County

LAKE FOREST, CA — In Orange County, home prices have inched up, while sales have dropped, a real estate watchdog recently reported. The median selling price across Orange County was $740,000 in September, up 4.2 percent from $710,000 in September 2017, according to a real estate information service announcement Tuesday. The number of homes sold dropped by 23.6 percent, from 3,344 in September 2017 to 2,555 last month.

Home prices also rose slightly in Los Angeles County last month, compared to the same month a year ago, while home sales sharply dropped, CoreLogic said.

According to CoreLogic, the median price of a Los Angeles County home was $595,000 last month, up 3.5 percent from $575,000 in September 2017. A total of 5,621 homes were sold in the county, down 19.3 percent from 6,964 during the same month the previous year.

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A total of 17,369 new and resale houses and condos changed hands in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties last month, according to CoreLogic. That was down 21.9 percent from 22,244 in August, and down 17.7 percent from 21,100 in September 2017.

The median price of a Southern California home was $523,000 in September, down 2.2 percent from $535,000 in August and up 3.6 percent from $505,000 in September 2017.

Andrew LePage, research analyst with CoreLogic, said the year-over- year drop in Southern California home sales in September was the largest for any month in almost eight years, thanks to increasing prices and mortgage rates.

"Price growth is moderating amid slower sales and more listings in many markets," he said. "This is welcome news for potential homebuyers, but many still face a daunting hurdle -- the monthly mortgage payment, which has been pushed up sharply by rising mortgage rates. While the median sale price was up 3.6 percent year over year in September, the principal-and-interest mortgage payment on the median-priced home was up 14.2 percent because mortgage rates increased about 0.8 percentage points over that period."

City News Service; Photo: Shutterstock

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