Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Costa Mesa home sales tumble 27% to start 2019

Homebuying in Newport Beach, Laguna Beach and Costa Mesa fell 27.2% percent in what was Orange County homebuying’s slowest start to a year since 2009.

Not only did CoreLogic stats show the lowest countywide sales count for any first three months of a year since the Great Recession, it was the third-slowest-selling first quarter in the real estate tracker’s database that dates to 1988. At the community level, sales rose in only one-sixth of Orange County’s 83 ZIP codes. With the slump, prices fell countywide, too.

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CoreLogic found these 16 trends in the nine ZIP codes covered by the northern edition of the Orange County Register’s The Current weekly …

1. Purchases: Home sales in the first quarter totaled 504 vs. 692 a year earlier, a decline of 27.2% in a year.

2. Who’s up: Prices increased in six of the nine ZIPs as sales rose in just one ZIP.

3. Countywide: $710,000 median selling price, down 2.1% in a year. Orange County sales totaled 6,211 residences, existing and new, vs. 7,804 a year earlier, a decline of 20.4% in a year. Prices rose in 36 out of 83 Orange County ZIPs and sales were up in 13 out of 83 ZIPs.

Here is how prices and sales moved in Newport Beach, Laguna Beach and Costa Mesa …

4. Laguna Beach 92651: $2,088,000 median, up 26.5% in a year. Price rank in Orange County: No. 5 highest of 83. Sales of 75 vs. 98 a year earlier, a decline of 23.5% in a year.

5. Costa Mesa 92626: $831,000 median, up 5.2% in a year. Price rank? No. 21 of 83. Sales of 80 vs. 106 a year earlier, a decline of 24.5% in a year.

6. Costa Mesa 92627: $837,500 median, down 1.1% in a year. Price rank? No. 20 of 83. Sales of 109 vs. 156 a year earlier, a decline of 30.1% in a year.

7. Corona del Mar 92625: $2,775,000 median, up 11.0% in a year. Price rank? No. 3 of 83. Sales of 36 vs. 65 a year earlier, a decline of 44.6% in a year.

8. Newport Beach 92660: $1,528,000 median, down 17.1% in a year. Price rank? No. 7 of 83. Sales of 94 vs. 100 a year earlier, a decline of 6.0% in a year.

9. Newport Beach 92661: $3,400,000 median, up 70.0% in a year. Price rank? No. 1 of 83. Sales of 15 vs. 21 a year earlier, a decline of 28.6% in a year.

10. Newport Beach 92662: $3,400,000 median, down 18.1% in a year. Price rank? No. 1 of 83. Sales of 7 vs. 4 a year earlier, a gain of 75.0% in a year.

11. Newport Beach 92663: $1,550,000 median, up 54.2% in a year. Price rank? No. 6 of 83. Sales of 58 vs. 77 a year earlier, a decline of 24.7% in a year.

12. Newport Coast 92657: $2,705,000 median, up 8.2% in a year. Price rank? No. 4 of 83. Sales of 30 vs. 65 a year earlier, a decline of 53.8% in a year.

Plus, more countywide trends found in first quarter 2019 vs. 2018’s first three months …

13. Single-family-home resales: 3,784 Orange County sales vs. 4,570 a year earlier, a decline of 17.2% in the period. Median: $760,000 — a dip of 1.9% in the period.

14. Condo resales: 1,721 sales vs. 2,108 a year earlier, a decline of 18.4% in 12 months. Median: $485,000 — a dip of 3.0% in 12 months.

15. New homes: Builders sold 706 residences vs. 1,126 a year earlier, a decline of 37.3% in 12 months. Median: $1,017,500 — a rise of 15.8% in a year.

16. Coastal towns: In Orange County’s 16 beach-close ZIPs, 1,233 homes sold — that down 26% in the year.