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