Anaheim Home Prices Rise 14%, Biggest Uptick in the Nation

The once modestly priced market of Anaheim has joined the club of California’s most expensive hubs, according to a Redfin study. Median sales prices jumped 14.2 percent in a year-over-year comparison for the Anaheim metro area, which includes Irvine and Garden Grove as well as Anaheim.

The Redfin study, released last week, found the Anaheim metro market showed the biggest year-over-year increase in median prices in the nation.

“It’s $1.1 million. It’s right up there with San Francisco and other coastal cities,” said Daryl Fairweather, chief economist at Redfin.

The median home price in the city of Anaheim was $875,000. In Garden Grove, it was $840,000. In the city of Irvine, the median price for a home was $1.4 million.

Prices have climbed in the central Orange County market because of new development, said Scott Wild, senior vice president at John Burns Research & Consulting.

“You’re seeing a lot of redevelopment on a small scale from builders in places like Buena Park and Garden Grove. There are little developments of 100 to 150 townhomes,” Wild said. “It put these locations back on the map for new home shoppers, after not having significant new homes for decades.”

Genelle Geronsin has sold homes in the Anaheim area with her family team The Geronsin Real Estate Group at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices for more than 20 years. She said the buyer in the Anaheim market has not changed much. There are still a lot of people who work at Disney who want to buy a home near the Disneyland Resort. There are more investors looking to buy homes for cash than in the past. She also noted the Anaheim area is becoming less affordable.

”You are now struggling to get into a single-family residence detached for under $800,000. With the purchase power of $800,000, you should be able to look for a single-family house. In some areas, that will walk you into a condo,” she said.

As for inventory, the Anaheim metro follows the national trend of fewer homes for sale, similar to other neighborhoods in Los Angeles and Orange counties. In Anaheim, new listings are down about 12 percent, according to Redfin.