60.8 F
Laguna Hills
Wednesday, May 27, 2026

Home Prices Fall Under $400,000

Orange County’s median home price fell under $400,000 in December, the lowest price the area’s seen since mid-2003.

The median price of an OC home was $397,000 in December, a $3,000 decline from November, according to La Jolla-based DataQuick Information Systems, a unit of Canada’s MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates.

Median prices here are down about 30% from a year earlier and are off more than 38% from their all-time high in June 2007. Prices in the county haven’t been this low since April 2003.

Prices are down, but sales continue to increase over year-ago levels. Sales volumes in OC increased 49% from a year earlier, with 2,580 home sales in December. Sales here were up 19% from November’s totals.

The median price of a Southern California home was $278,000 in November, a 2% drop from November and a 35% decrease from a year ago. Southland prices are now off 45% from their mid-2007 peak.

Southland sales in December were up 50% from a year ago.

Foreclosure resales,where a foreclosure had occurred at some point in the prior year,were 56% of the Southern California’s total sales in December, according to DataQuick. That’s up from 24% a year ago.

Want more from the best local business newspaper in the country?

Sign-up for our FREE Daily eNews update to get the latest Orange County news delivered right to your inbox!

Would you like to subscribe to Orange County Business Journal?

One-Year for Only $99

  • Unlimited access to OCBJ.com
  • Daily OCBJ Updates delivered via email each weekday morning
  • Journal issues in both print and digital format
  • The annual Book of Lists: industry of Orange County's leading companies
  • Special Features: OC's Wealthiest, OC 500, Best Places to Work, Charity Event Guide, and many more!

Mark Mueller
Mark Mueller
Mark is the former Editor-in-Chief and current Community Editor of the Orange County Business Journal, one of the premier regional business newspapers in the country. He’s the fifth person to hold the editor’s position in the paper’s long history. He oversees a staff of about 15 people. The OCBJ is considered a must-read for area business executives. The print edition of the paper is the primary source of local news for most of the Business Journal’s subscribers, which includes most of OC’s major corporate and community players. Mark’s been with the paper since 2005, and long served as the real estate reporter for the paper, breaking hundreds of commercial and residential real estate stories. He took on the editor’s position in 2018.

Featured Articles

Related Articles