Sweet Orange

For a look at what is going on in with housing prices in Costa Mesa, I provided the numbers for the highest- and lowest-priced homes in Costa Mesa as well as the numbers for a Costa Mesa home that is near the median. Here they are:

The highest priced home in Costa Mesa is currently at 369 22nd Street. This home is located in Eastside Costa Mesa (92627) near the Newport Bay. Note that the current listing price is reduced by 15% from the original listing price.

• Asking price: $2,990,000 ($516/SF)
• HOA fee: n/a
• What: detached house built in 2004
• Size: 4 beds/6 baths with 5800 square feet
• Previously sold: February 10, 1996 for $540,000
• Price reductions:
  * listed April 16,2009 for $3,495,000
  * price reduced on July 22, 2009 to #3,295,000
  * price reduced on August 21, 2009 to $2,990,000

The lowest priced home in Costa Mesa is currently at 1654 Iowa Street, Unit B. This short sale is  located in the Mesa Verde neighborhood  (92626). Note that the current listing price is approximately 50% below the previous 2006 selling price.

• Asking price: $209,990 ($234/SF)
• HOA fee: $250/month
• What: condo built in 1971
• Size: 2 beds/1 bath with 897 square feet
• Previously sold: April 21, 2006 for $406,000

An example of a mid-priced Costa Mesa home is at 832 Presidio Drive. This home is located in Central Costa Mesa (92626) near Tewinkle Park, Orange County Fair Grounds, Orange Coast College, South Coast Plaza as well as many freeways. This is a short sale.

• Asking price: $439,000 ($338/SF)
• HOA fee: n/a
• What: detached house built in 1960
• Size: 3 beds/62baths with 1200 square feet (7200 SF lot)
• Previously sold: July 17, 2009 for $439,000 and July 12, 1994 for $184,000

Back in May, I wrote that the Altos Market Action Index numbers are showing the low-end of the Orange County housing market to be healthier than the high-end. An article by Kelli Hart in Sunday’s Orange County Register backs up the theory (”Luxury homes fall into slump“). It seems that the high-end of the housing market is going through something similar to what the low-end has experienced.

Hart gives these Real Data Strategies numbers:

From July 2008 to the end of June, home priced at $1 million and more received an average price reduction of 14.2 percent. By comparison, homes priced at $500,000 and less received an average price reduction of 7.6 percent.

And Hart quotes broker Phil Immel as saying:

“Last recession, in the early ’90s, oceanfront (houses) dropped 50 percent before stabilizing.”

Following are the current Altos Research index numbers for some of the high-end  Orange County housing markets. Above 30 is a sellers’ market; below 30 is a buyers’ market. For comparison, Irvine is currently 18.01, and Costa Mesa is currently 17.70. And often criticized Santa Ana scores best with an index number of 20.53. Santa Ana’s current list price for a single-family home, according to Altos Research, is $326,573.

I also included, in bold, the current (August 16, 2009) Altos median list price for each of these housing markets.

Altos Market Action Indexes

• Corona Del Mar: $2,411,818 median list price
  May 22, 2009: 12.28
  August 16, 2009: 9.97
• Dana Point: $1,040,681 median list price
  May 22, 2009: 12.16
  August 16, 2009: 13.68
• Laguna Beach: $2,270,116 median list price
  May 22, 2009: 10.38
  August 16, 2009: 13.27
• Newport Beach: $1,948,468 median list price
  May 22, 2009: 10.11
  August 16, 2009: 9.80
• Newport Coast: $3,157,636 median list price
  May 22, 2009: 10.18
  August 16, 2009: 11.54
• Villa Park: $1,247,864 median list price
  May 22, 2009: 7.36
  August 16, 2009: 10.78

Following are some recent housing numbers, including the foreclosure numbers, for Costa Mesa that are broken down by ZIP code. These numbers, provided by Trulia, are for condo and detached homes combined.

Alto Research numbers, which are for detached homes only, currently give Costa Mesa a Market Action Index of 17.70 (30 or below is a buyers’ market). According to Redfin, approximately 70% of the Costa Mesa homes on market are detached.

Also, according to an article by Matt Padilla, the rate of foreclosures fell in both Costa Mesa ZIPs: The 92627 foreclosure rate dropped by 37 percent, and the 92626 rate dropped somewhere between 40% to 59% from the previous year. However, as the numbers below show, although the rate of foreclosures is decreasing in Costa Mesa, the number of foreclosures is still high.

92626 (South Coast Metro, Central, Mesa Verde)

• Average List Price (week ending 8-05-09): $599,086 ($304 per SF)
• Median Selling Price (May-July 2009): $495,000
• % home that are in foreclosure: 52.6%*
  (163 new and resale homes for sale, as well as 181 foreclosures**)

92627 (Eastside, Central, Southwest)

• Average List Price (week ending 8-05-09): $587,880 ($376 per SF)
• Median Selling Price (May-July 2009): $467,500
• % home that are in foreclosure: 50.3%*
  (237 new and resale homes for sale, as well as 240 foreclosures**)

**homes in the pre-foreclosure, auction, or bank-owned stages of the foreclosure process

COSTA MESA HOME SALES GRAPH COURTESY CITY-DATA.COM

Tomorrow: some Costa Mesa community data numbers

The Orange County Assessor’s 2009-2010 Local Assessment Roles of Value shows that the value of the Orange County assessed tax roll (secured and unsecured) is over $418 billion. This is 1.2% or $5.2 billion lower than last year’s assessment roll. The Orange County assessment roll has been lower than the previous year only twice before.

However, not all cities will be receiving less of this tax revenue than they did last year. For example, unlike Santa Ana, both Costa Mesa and Irvine will receive more than they did the previous year; take a look at the city-by-city numbers as shown below. For additional Orange County property tax data, click here.

In the queue: more property tax information

Yesterday, we took a look at some housing market numbers for North Orange County. Today, we will take a look at how the Central Orange County housing market for detached homes is doing as shown by the Altos Market Action Index. The Altos Market Action Index shows the balance between potential buyers and sellers, in other words, the balance between supply and demand.  Above 30 is a sellers’ market; below 30 is a buyers’ market.

Note that the Altos numbers are for detached homes only (condos are not included). For this reason, I have included numbers that show the percentage of home in each city that are detached. The index numbers listed below are as reported by Altos Research on July 12, 2009. The Altos numbers are updated each week, so if you click on the Altos index numbers for each city, you will see the July 19 numbers (or the most recent index number). In most cases, the July 19 numbers show that  the market has retreated further into a buyers’s market in just this one week.

Also, note that the Altos numbers for Central Orange County show a similar story when it comes to the high-end and low-end of the housing market: Central Orange County cities with the highest-priced homes  have some of  the least favorable market index number (for example, Newport Beach, Villa Park and Los Alamitos). And the Central Orange County cities with lower-priced homes have some of the most favorable market index numbers (for example, Santa Ana). However, as shown by the numbers, the housing market in all of these cities is a buyers’ market.

To see what homes are currently on the market as well as what homes have sold recently, click on the city name.

Note: The brown line in the graphs is the Altos Market Action Index 90-day median; the black line is the Altos Market Action Index 7-day median.

Costa Mesa:

• Altos Research Index–21.13
• approximate % homes on market that are detached–72%

Fountain Valley:

• Altos Research Index–26.05
• approximate % homes on market that are detached–81%

Huntington Beach:

• Altos Research Index–~14.50
• approximate % homes on market that are detached–69%

Irvine:

• Altos Research Index–18.31
• approximate % homes on market that are detached–43%

Los Alamitos:

• Altos Research Index–11.90
• approximate % homes on market that are detached–77%

Newport Beach:

• Altos Research Index–11.42
• approximate % homes on market that are detached–67%

Orange:

• Altos Research Index–19.26
• approximate % homes on market that are detached–86%

Santa Ana:

• Altos Research Index–21.75
• approximate % homes on market that are detached–64%

Seal Beach: 

• Altos Research Index–12.91
• approximate % homes on market that are detached–26%

Tustin:

• Altos Research Index–19.09
• approximate % homes on market that are detached–51%

Villa Park:

• Altos Research Index–8.43
• approximate % homes on market that are detached–100%

As I stated in my About section, one of my goals for this blog is to highlight the similarities that Irvine and Costa Mesa share as well as the differences between these two Orange County cities. One of the differences is the type of residential income property that is available.

In addition to apartment buildings that are available for investment, Costa Mesa also has smaller options available, such as apartments over garages or a second building on the lot. These options for investment on a smaller scale are hard to find in Irvine. The reason for this can be found in the way these two cities developed: Irvine with basically one landowner (The Irvine Company) calling the shots, and Costa Mesa with many landowners making  numerous independent decisions.

A lot more could be said about the forces that shaped these two cities to be what they are, but that will be for another time. For now, we will look at the type of investment properties that are available in Costa Mesa. The following is a sample of what is available in Eastside Costa Mesa:

411 Emerson Street has a 3 bedroom detach home with a 2 bed apartment over the garage. Asking price: $899,000.

2344 Elden Avenue #3 has a duplex in the front and a three-bedroom detached home with a pool in the back. Asking price: $899,000.

268 Cabrillo Street #3 is a three-unit townhome building. All units are two bedrooms with 1.5 baths. Asking price: $1,040,000.

173 Broadway is six units. Each unit has 2 bedrooms and 1 bath. Asking price: $1,750,000.

Resource: “How to find good investment property” by Liz Pulliam Weston, MSN Money

PHOTOS ARE OF 2344 ELDEN AND 2411 EMERSON

Following are some Costa Mesa housing number from Trulia. These numbers are for all Costa Mesa homes (detached and condos). To see what the Altos Research Market Action Index says about the Costa Mesa housing market, see “The Costa Mesa Housing Index Says….” And to see previous Redfin numbers for the Costa Mesa housing market, see my past posts “The Costa Mesa Detached Home Report” and “The Costa Mesa Condo Report.”

The average listing price for week ending May 27, 2009 was $587,398 ($328/SF). Based on 204 homes sold from February to April 2009 (up 14% from the previous quarter), the Costa Mesa median selling price was as follows:

Median Sold Price: $465,000

• up 3.3% from the previous quarter
• down 12.3% from the same period of the previous year
• down 14.8% when compared to the same period of 5 years ago

The percent of Costa Mesa homes on the market that are currently in distress is as follows:

% of homes that are in distress*: 56%

• number of homes on the market: 789
• number of homes  that are in distress*: 438

Source: Trulia

*Distressed homes are defined as those that are in pre-foreclosure, trustee auction. or bank-owned stage of the foreclosure process.

The following information provides some insight into the status of the housing market in Orange County. In addition to shedding light on the percentage of Orange County housing that is in distress, this information shows that, although most statistics provide helpful information, considering all data with some skepticism is wise.

According to Steve Thomas of Altera Real Estate, on April 30, 2009, 35.9% of the Orange County homes on the market were in distress. Here is the Altera Orange County breakdown:

• 10,363 homes on the market as shown by the active-listing inventory
• 3,724 distressed homes on the market
• 35.9% of Orange County homes in distress (Source: Altera Realty)

Altera numbers also stated that 29.6% of Irvine homes on the market were in distress. Here is Altera’s Irvine breakdown:

• 686 homes listed for sale
• 203 homes in either foreclosure or a short sale
• 29.6% of Irvine homes in distress (Source:Altera Realty)

However, at that time, Trulia numbers showed a more pessimistic picture. Here is Trulia’s Irvine breakdown:

• 1810 resale and new homes on the market
• 741 homes in pre-foreclosure, auction or bank-owned stage of foreclosure
• 41% of Irvine homes in distress (Source: Trulia)

In addition, Trulia’s numbers showed that Costa Mesa has an even higher percentage of distressed homes on the market than Irvine.

• 780 resale and new homes on the market
• 416 homes in pre-foreclosure, auction or bank-owned stage of foreclosure
• 53 % of Costa Mesa homes in distress (Source: Trulia)

All these numbers are helpful, but, as you see, the Altera numbers show a rosier picture for the Irvine housing market than the Trulia numbers do.

In addition, based on these numbers, most would conclude that the Irvine housing market is in better shape than Costa Mesa’s. However, according to recent Altos Research numbers, the Costa Mesa housing market is in slightly better shape than Irvine’s, and both the Irvine and Costa Mesa housing markets are in better shape that the high-end beach communities.

The bottom line is that the numbers can be worked many different ways, and sometimes the same numbers are used to support opposing viewpoints. So, buyer beware, and look at a range of statistics from different sources to get a clear picture of market conditions.

Update: I just came across some articles on this subject by Jonathan Lansner: “Playing the numbers” and “Perhaps home sales haven’t bottomed yet.“  In the first, he writes about the varying home depreciation numbers that different companies report. In the second, John Burns of John Burns Real Estate Consulting gives a perspective on the subject. SW 6-3-09

If you are facing the possibility of foreclosure, here are some ways to find help:

• Contact a Consumer Credit Counseling Services office. Orange County branches are located in Santa Ana (headquarters), Anaheim, Brea, and Costa Mesa. Website: cccsoc.org; Phone: 800-213-2227 (24 hours).
  Consumer Credit Counseling Services in Costa Mesa can be reached at the website or by calling 714-245-1690. The Costa Mesa branch is located at 2701 Harbor Boulevard inside the Costa Mesa Federal Credit Union. English, Spanish, and Vietnamese are spoken at the Costa Mesa branch.
• Attend a free foreclosure prevention workshop at Irvine’s civic center on June 12. At the workshop, individual help will be provided to homeowners. The workshop is made available by the Orange County Home Ownership Preservation Collaborative, the City of Irvine and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). RSVP suggested. Phone: 714-568-0823 X225.
• See the HUD website, or call 877-HUD-1515. In addition to information on housing, loans and foreclosure, this site has a list of HUD-approved counseling agencies.

GRAPHIC COURTESY THE CITY OF IRVINE

Is 1920s cottage charm enough to command a high price per square foot in our current tough Orange County housing market? A home on Monte Vista Avenue in Eastside Costa Mesa will give us some answers. 

228 Monte Vista Avenue is a 1927 Eastside Costa Mesa detached cottage with 3 bedrooms and 1314 SF. The listing had an asking price of $699,900 ($533/SF). No homeowner association fee was listed.  The listing stated that it is within walking distance of the Newport Back Bay. If you click on the walking distance link, you will see that many services and amenities are nearby.

When I first saw the listing for this home, my thought was that, although I would not have made some of the decorating choices, it has some charm. I wasn’t sure that the charm would be able to get the $533 per square foot that the homeowners were asking.

However, on May 2, the listing changed from active status to accepting backup offers. I checked the listing today and apparently this home has sold; however, the final sales price is not yet available. We will have to wait for the sales price to show up in the public records (about 30 days) to see what the final selling price was. This Eastside home was on the market for about 30 days. It sold in September 2004 for $650,000 and in July 1996 for $180,000.

Update: 228 Monte Vista sold for $690,000 on May 29, 2009. SW 7-3-09

Here is what some nearby homes have sold for recently:

2562 Westminister Avenue

• sold for $639,500 ($480/SF)
• sold on April 30, 2009
• 1306 SF

2519 Santa Ana Avenue

• sold for $475,000 ($376/SF)
• sold on April 27, 2009
• 1264 SF

201 Susanah Place

• sold for $612,900 ($451/SF)
• sold on March 03, 2009
• 1359 SF

If you want to compare this home with other homes currently on the market, here is a link to a map of available housing in this area.

Note: All pictures are of 277 Monte Vista, Eastside Costa Mesa.