The median price of an existing Orange County home declined by more than $15,000 in January from December, thanks in large part to an influx of first-time home buyers snapping up more affordable homes, the California Association of Realtors said on Tuesday.
The median price for an existing stand-alone OC home sold in January was $480,790, a 3% decline from December, but a 13% increase from a year ago.
The number of sales rose 13% from a year earlier but were down nearly 29% from December, the Realtor association said.
The association excludes condominiums from its figures.
Including condos, the median price of a home here in January was $370,000, a 6.8% decrease from December, and a 15% decrease from a year earlier, according to San Diego-based MDA DataQuick, a unit of Canada’s MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates.
The median price of an existing home in California was $287,440 in January, about a 6% decrease from December but about a 15% increase from a year ago, according to the Realtor association.
Deals that were signed over the holidays—when many house-hunters are first-time buyers—made up a large percentage of January’s sales, likely bringing down last month’s median price, the association said.
Statewide sales in January decreased by 10.6% from a year earlier and were down 3% from December.
