Typical House Payment Reaches $7,700 in Orange County

Would-be home buyers in Orange County encounter an extremely steep hill to find an affordable house, with mortgage payments more than doubling in five years.

A typical OC buyer in November had a monthly payment of $7,700, assuming a 20 percent down payment — paying 1 percent more than a year ago and 126 percent more than five years ago, according to an Orange County Register analysis .

If a buyer forks out 40 percent of their income to make that payment, they’d need to earn $231,000 a year — plus have $235,900 in cash for the down.

To crunch the numbers, the newspaper looked at a 37-year history of CoreLogic homebuying stats through November and swings in the 30-year fixed mortgage rate from Freddie Mac, with estimated payments combining a month’s median sales price and mortgage rate.

The median sales price of a home in Orange County was $1.18 million in November, 7 percent higher than a year ago and 60 percent more over five years, according to the Register.

Compound that with mortgage rate swings, with the November 6.8 percent average fluctuating from 7.4 percent a year earlier and 3.7 percent five years ago. The average mortgage rate since 1988 is 6.2 percent.

At the same time, a typical Los Angeles County buyer in November got a $5,670 monthly payment, assuming a 20 percent down payment. That’s 3 percent below a year ago but 98 percent higher in five years, according to the Register.

If a buyer spends 40 percent of their income to make that payment, they’d need to earn $170,000 a year — plus have $173,800 in cash for the downpayment.

The stubbornly high prices and higher mortgage rates have resulted in dramatically slower homebuying in both counties, according to the Register.

Over the past two years, OC buyers completed an average 1,970 home purchases a month, a pace 35 percent below the previous two years and 41 percent slower than sales counts since 1988.

Across Orange County, there were 2,720 average home listings over the past year, 17 percent more than the previous 12 months, but 59 percent fewer than in 2019, before the pandemic, according to Realtor.com.

At the same time, L.A. County buyers completed an average 4,500 transactions a month over the past two years, a pace 34 percent below the previous two years and 43 percent slower than the sales counts in 37 years.

Across L.A. County, there were 9,720 average active listings of existing homes during the past year, according to Realtor.com, 23 percent more than the previous 12 months, but 27 percent less than in 2019.

— Dana Bartholomew