The price of an existing Orange County detached home took a 5.2% hit from August to September, while sales fell by a third from a year ago, the California Association of Realtors said on Wednesday.
The median price for an existing, single-family home sold here in September was $673,770, a $36,610 drop from a month ago. Prices in the county now are down 4.6% from a year ago.
The month-to-month drop was largely due to the difficulty in buyers getting jumbo loans- those above the conforming loan limit of $417,000 – during the recent credit crunch, the California Association of Realtors said.
The association’s figures show less of a price decline that those reported earlier this month by La Jolla-based DataQuick Information Systems, which includes condos in its figures.
The median price of a home in Orange County fell to $570,000 in September–a 9.5% drop from a year ago, and an 11.2% drop from August–according to DataQuick.
Both sets of figures showed a big drop in sales during September. Orange County sales declined 33% from a year ago, and dropped 25% from August, according to the California Association of Realtors.
The statewide September median price of an existing detached California home was $530,830, a 9.9% decrease from August, and a 4.7% decrease from a year ago, the association said.
Statewide sales were down 39% in September from a year ago.
