South OC home stats, Sept. 30

Here is the South OC home prices and sales report from today's Orange County Register. These data cover the 22 business days ending Sept. 22. Overall, county home sales decreased 35 percent, and the median sales price was down 4 percent.



Some notes on the data
The "All South OC" median home price used the median of the data (in reality, this is the median of the median, since the original data were median home price in each city). The median was also used to determine percent change in both the price and sales volume. Here are the figures if we used the mean instead:
Average of median home prices in past 4 weeks, South OC: $780,401
Average percent change in median sale price when compared year-over-year: 3%
Average percent change in sales volume, compared year-over-year: -25%

What the data are telling us:
*Ladera Ranch and Lake Forest appear to have been the worst South County markets during the time this data was collected. Both saw very large dips in both the median home price and sales volume. Mission Viejo ZIP 92691 recorded the biggest drop in home sales volume at -46.5%.

*Tracking the argument that the highest-priced markets won't be affected as much: Laguna Beach seems to say otherwise. This city, which has the highest median home price in South County, saw declines both in the median home price and sales volume. Dana Point ZIP code 92694 saw a very large spike in median home price, but considering the very small sales volume (6), it is reasonable to conclude the median was affected by the small sample size.

*10 of the 17 South OC ZIP codes recorded decreases in the median home sales price. Just 3 ZIP codes saw an increase in sales volume: Laguna Woods, the 92629 ZIP in Dana Point and Foothill Ranch. No ZIP code saw increases both in the median sales price and sales volume.