Home sales slowdown: Aliso Viejo, Dana Point, Laguna Niguel and San Clemente down 16%

Homebuying in Aliso Viejo, Dana Point, Laguna Niguel and San Clemente fell 16 percent from August through November vs. the same period in 2017 amid a steep countywide slowdown.

Once primetime selling season ended in Orange County this summer, house hunters balked. That created the slowest-selling August-to-November period in seven years. Culprits were high prices and expensive mortgages. At the same time, homeowners and builders boosted the supply of residences for sale.

Here’s what my trusty spreadsheet told me when looking at house-hunting patterns at the neighborhood level in 2018’s August-to-November period vs. the same timeframe in ’17.

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CoreLogic found these 12 trends in six ZIP codes covered by the southern edition of the Orange County Register’s The Current weekly …

1. Purchases: Home sales in this period totaled 1,103 vs. 1,306 a year earlier, a decline of 15.5 percent.

2. Who’s up: Prices increased in five of the six ZIPs as sales rose in no ZIPs.

3. Countywide: $725,000 median selling price, up 3.6 percent. Orange County sales totaled 11,429 residences, existing and new, vs. 13,178 a year earlier, a decline of 13.3 percent. Prices rose in 56 out of 83 Orange County ZIPs, and sales were up in 17 out of 83 ZIPs.

Here is how prices and sales moved at the community level …

4. Aliso Viejo 92656: $578,000 median, up 13.3 percent. Price rank in Orange County: No. 67 out of 83 ZIPs. Sales of 232 vs. 301 a year earlier, a decline of 22.9 percent.

5. Dana Point 92624: $895,000 median, up 16.2 percent. Price rank? No. 20. Sales of 32 vs. 38 a year earlier, a decline of 15.8 percent.

6. Dana Point 92629: $882,500 median, down 15.6 percent. Price rank? No. 21. Sales of 176 vs. 222 a year earlier, a decline of 20.7 percent.

7. Laguna Niguel 92677: $847,000 median, up 19.6 percent. Price rank? No. 24. Sales of 326 vs. 382 a year earlier, a decline of 14.7 percent.

8. San Clemente 92672: $980,000 median, up 13.3 percent. Price rank? No. 12. Sales of 180 vs. 188 a year earlier, a decline of 4.3 percent.

9. San Clemente 92673: $925,000 median, up 10.1 percent. Price rank? No. 18. Sales of 157 vs. 175 a year earlier, a decline of 10.3 percent.

Plus, three more countywide trends found from August through November …

10. Single-family-home resales: 6,761 Orange County sales vs. 7,836 a year earlier, a decline of 13.7 percent in the period. Median: $772,000 — a rise of 2.3 percent in the period.

11. Condo resales: 2,977 sales vs. 3,485 a year earlier, a decline of 14.6 percent in 12 months. Median: $505,000 — a rise of 3.2 percent in a year.

12. New homes: Builders sold 1,691 residences vs. 1,857 a year earlier, a decline of 8.9 percent in 12 months. Median: $955,000 — a rise of 11.9 percent in a year.