Orange County Loses $1M ZIP Codes as Home Prices Decline

As home prices fall in Orange County, so has the number of $1 million ZIP codes.

OC housing lost eight $1 million postal codes in a year, while adding three “affordable” neighborhoods, the Orange County Register reported, citing figures from CoreLogic.

Of the 84 ZIP codes in OC, 38 had median prices at $1 million or more last March, compared to 46 a year earlier.

At the “affordable” end of the spectrum, 14 postal zones had median prices of $750,000 or less, compared to 11 a year earlier.

Countywide, the median selling price was $990,000 in March — off 3 percent in a year, according to CoreLogic. The number of sales fell 34 percent to 2,109 existing and new homes during the same period.

The once fiery OC housing market has cooled as rising mortgage rates and economic uncertainty scare off potential home buyers, according to the Register. Home purchases in Los Angeles and Orange counties ran at the second-slowest March on record.

Sales totaled 7,044 in March in the two counties, according to CoreLogic. That’s up 43 percent from February, but down 35 percent for the year.

The cost of financing is a big factor. The 30-year mortgage rate averaged 6.5 percent in March compared to 4.2 percent 12 months earlier. For the typical OC buyer, that means a 27 percent bigger payment – $5,027 a month on a typical house costing $990,000 versus $3,957 a month on last year’s median $1 million home. And that payment needs a $198,000, or 20 percent, downpayment, according to the Register.

The three priciest ZIP codes in Orange county were in Newport Beach, which led with 92661 having a median price of $4.35 million.

The cheapest ZIPs were Laguna Woods 92637 at $382,500, Santa Ana 92707 at $537,000 and Garden Grove 92844 at $592,500.

The biggest one-year price gains were in Santa Ana 92701, up 70 percent to $670,000; Newport Beach 92661, up 63 percent to $4.35 million and Buena Park 90621, up 41 percent to $1.09 million.

The biggest one-year price dips were Anaheim 92808, off 33 percent to $710,000; Orange 92866, off 30 percent to $857,500; and Laguna Beach 92651, off 29 percent to $2.08 million.

— Dana Bartholomew