OC Median Home Price Hits Record Above $1M

Despite glacial home sales, the price of a typical house in Orange County has hit a record high.

The median cost for a home in OC rose to $1.059 million in June, 5.9 percent higher than the previous month and 3 percent higher than last year, the Los Angeles Daily News reported, citing data from CoreLogic. The previous record was $1.05 million set in May 2022.

In Los Angeles County, the median price rose to $830,000, up 3.8 percent in a month and 2 percent lower than last year. It’s also 3 percent below the $860,000 record set in April 2022.

Economic uncertainty and higher mortgage rates resulted in sluggish sales in the first half of the year, with buying power cut by 13 percent in a year.

Sales in June were the second slowest in both counties since records from 1988, and 44 percent below the average for both regions, according to the Daily News.

In both regions, a combined 109,365 sales in the past 12 months was 36 percent below average.

Orange County had 2,296 sales in June — down 0.3 percent in a month and 17 percent lower in a year. L.A. County had 5,278 sales, up 2 percent in a month but 23 percent lower in a year.

A 30-year mortgage averaged 6.71 percent in June, compared to 5.52 percent 12 months earlier.

In Orange County, buyers of that median priced $1.059 million home with a 20 percent down payment had a monthly mortgage obligation of $5,472 a month. Last year, the monthly payment for the median $1.025 million house in the OC came to 4,666. That calculates to a 17 percent bigger monthly expense.

In L.A. County, buyers needed an 11 percent larger payment — $4,289 per month on the $830,000 median compared to $3,870 on last year’s $850,000 home, with the same 20 percent down payment.

— Dana Bartholomew