Orange County home prices showed uncharacteristic strength for an October, with double-digit gains for the first time in four months, new housing figures released Wednesday show.
The median price of an Orange County home – or the price at the midpoint of all sales – was $595,000 last month, up 10.2 percent from a year ago and up $10,000 from September’s median, CoreLogic DataQuick reported.
Typically, prices drop from September to October as part of a seasonal slowdown, rising in only nine of the past 27 years.
Last month’s price gain was the biggest price appreciation rate in the region and the only double-digit gain among six Southern California counties DataQuick tracks. And it was the highest median home price for an October since 2006.
Countywide, home sales remained well below October averages, however, with transactions falling to the slowest pace for the month in three years. DataQuick reported that 2,849 homes changed hands last month, down 4.6 percent from the same month’s sales pace last year.
The market here matched trends throughout Southern California. Regionwide, the median home price increased 6.8 percent to $410,000, while sales fell 4.4 percent to 19,271 transactions.
All six Southern California counties that DataQuick tracks showed year-over-year price gains of 6.3 percent or better, while sales dipped throughout the region.
posted by Jeff Collins, OC Register
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