Orange County Home Prices Jump 7.7%, Most in the Nation

The price of homes in Orange County has shot up faster than anywhere in the nation.

The overall cost of a single-family home jumped 7.7 percent over the past year, as OC led the nation in gains among the top 30 metropolitan areas, according to the Orange County Register, citing a November report by First American Data & Analytics.

Orange County also had the highest mid-range price gains, at 10.2 percent, and luxury gains, at 8.1 percent.

For house hunters, there was a milder 4.9 percent increase in starter-home prices, still eighth-highest among the 30 big U.S. markets.

The boost in prices can be attributed to Orange County’s good weather, proximity to the ocean and high-paying jobs, plus limited new-home development, according to the Register.

Those factors have made the region south of Los Angeles an ultra-competitive place to try to buy a home, and the rare house hunters who can afford to buy seem eager to pay up.

Early last year, a would-be home buyer would have to make $349,200 a year to comfortably buy a typical $1.37 million single-family home in OC, according to the California Association of Realtors.

The First American study charted six California regions, with San Diego having the second highest home price gain, at 3.7 percent in a year; the Inland Empire came next at 2.4 percent; Sacramento, at 1.9 percent; Los Angeles County, at 1.4 percent; and Alameda and Contra Costa Counties, in the East Bay, at 0.3 percent.

In greater Los Angeles, the gains included a 3.1 percent rise in prices for starter homes, and a 1.8 percent rise for both mid-range homes and luxury homes.

Across the nation, prices over the past year leading up to November rose 3.9 percent, with the biggest gains in Wyoming, up 12.3 percent, followed by Maine, up 9.7 percent, and Connecticut, up 9.5 percent. California was No. 44 for price gains, up 2.5 percent, ahead of No. 45 Texas, at 2.4 percent.

November’s biggest one-year loser was Tampa, Florida, where prices fell 3.3 percent, according to the Register.

In August, the OC’s collective home value jumped by $121 billion in a year to $1.11 trillion as of June 30, surpassing the trillion-dollar mark to become the fifth-most valuable market in the nation.

— Dana Bartholomew