O.C. Home-Buying up 18% in early February!

Source: OC Register

Our first peek at February home-buying shows Orange County's shoppers staying active. Data-Quick's Orange County home-buying report for the 22 business days ending February 7 shows:

• Median selling price for all residences of $460,000 -- that is up 17.9% vs. a year ago. Total Orange County sales of 2,413 residences closed in the latest period -- that is up 17.5% vs. a year ago.

• Resales of single family homes were up 17.0% vs. last year; condo sales rose 9.1 percent vs. year ago. Builders' new homes sales were 80.4% higher in the same period.

• $460,000 median selling price is 29% below the June 2007 peak of $645,000.

• The most recent median is 24% above the cyclical low hit in January 2009 at $370,000 -- so the median has recouped 33% of the $275,000 price drop from the peak.

• Compared to cyclical low, single-family house median is 24% higher ($418,250 in January 2009); condo median is 23% higher ($252,000 in March 2009.) Builder prices for new homes are 61% above June 2009's $424,000 bottom.

•Builder's new homes sales were 7% of all residences sold in the period vs. 4% a year ago.

On a community level:

• 73 of 83 local ZIP codes with gains in their respective median selling price. Taking sales volume in consideration, home-sale pricing is up in ZIPs representing 89% of the Orange County market.

• Eight of 83 ZIPs with median sales prices above $1 million in the period vs. 11 million-dollar ZIPs when the county median price peaked in June 2007. Million-dollar ZIPs had 108 home sales in this period -- down 13% vs. a year ago.

• There were two ZIPs with medians under $250,000 vs. five a year ago. ZIPs with medians under a quarter million had 2% of all sales in the most recent period.

• 54 of 83 ZIPs had year-over-year sales gains in the period -- or 65% of the market; five ZIPs had sales gains of 100 percent or more in the period.

• 48 local ZIPs had both sales gains and price gains in the period. These double-gainers had combined sales volume equal to 66% of the Orange County market.