Home Prices Rise As Interest Rates Decline In Orange County

ORANGE COUNTY, CA — Home prices rose in Orange County last month, though sales of existing single-family homes declined, the California Association of Realtors reported Wednesday. Prices have been affected by the novel coronavirus that originated in China and has spread across the globe, economists say, creating unease among foreign and local buyers.

In Orange County, the median home price countywide in January was $855,000, compared to $840,000 in December, representing a roughly 2 percent increase, according to CAR.

On a year-over-year level, the price was 7.3 percent higher; in January 2019, the median price of an existing single-family property was $796,500, according to CAR data.

Statewide, the median price last month was $575,160, compared to $614,880 in December—down 6.5 percent. In January 2019, the median price was $536,830, reflecting a year-over-year rise of 7 percent.

CAR Chief Economist Leslie Appleton-Young discussed how the virus has affected the real estate market at the beginning of the new year.

"With interest rates on a declining trend again due to concerns about the impact of the coronavirus, motivated buyers will have an opportunity to stretch their purchasing power in the housing market," she said. "The economic outlook, however, is less clear than a month ago, before the outbreak of the disease, and we should expect market uncertainties to continue to linger on for the short term."

Last month, home sales countywide sank 23.7 percent, but they were up about 22 percent year-to-year, according to CAR.

The association's Unsold Inventory Index for January indicated that the median time a property was on the market before it sold in California was 31 days. In Orange County, it was 27 days.
The average price per square foot for an existing single-family home in California last month was $275 — $12 more than in January 2019.