South OC stats, April 4

We are hearing more rumblings from people in the real estate biz that activity is picking up. It would make sense considering after more than a year of historically awful real estate numbers, things can't fall much lower and would have to improve at some point, even if slightly. At least, that's what happened in the early 90s well before a real recovery was at hand.

Then again, some said the same thing last year, so we're skeptical until the sales data tell otherwise. Since DataQuick info does lag, we won't really know for sure just how much "better" things are for at least a few more weeks. Here is the latest data released by the OC Register, for the 22 business days ending March 20.



Notice this sales data shows some improvement in a handful of ZIPs, but many others, including Laguna Niguel (92677), RSM (92688) and Mission Viejo (92692) are running significantly lower than 2007 totals. San Clemente (92672) saw the worst year-over-year decline in number of sales.

Overall, the South OC median is 13.7% below what it was last year, and there were about half as many homes sold during the time these numbers were collected this year as there were in 2007.