The median price of a home sold in Orange County reached a new high in August of $617,000, up 13.6% from a year ago.
Sales jumped 26% to 4,708 houses and condominiums last month versus August 2004, La Jolla-based market tracker DataQuick Information Systems said Tuesday.
Strong sales this summer are a stark contrast to a year ago when the market here hit a snag. Then buyers reacted to high home prices and were nervous about interest rate hikes.
“Interest rates haven’t really gone anywhere,” said Marshall Prentice, DataQuick president. “While we’re certainly closer to the end of the cycle, the market is still balanced and stable.”
Though long-term rates remain low, short-term rates have risen as a result of monetary tightening by the Federal Reserve Bank.
The Fed meets later this month. Some experts speculated the Fed would halt its rate hikes to offset the economic impact of Hurricane Katrina. Fed officials have made conflicting public statements since the hurricane.
Michael Moskow, president of the Fed in Chicago, has focused more on inflation, while his San Francisco counterpart Janet Yellen has placed greater emphasis on the hurricane.
