Orange County has a new peak housing price.<\/p>\n
My trusty spreadsheet\u2019s review of Attom\u2019s March homebuying report showed that the $1.22 million median was up 2% year over year and topped the old record of $1.21 million set in June 2025. That month, three of the six Southern California counties had all-time high prices. It was the last time records were broken before this new peak.<\/p>\n
Yes, recent home pricing strength is a bit of a head-scratcher in an era of lofty mortgage rates and a shaky economy. Somehow, Orange County\u2019s median is up 21% since the Federal Reserve ended its cheap-money policies four years ago.<\/p>\n
In fact, Orange County\u2019s pricing seems stronger than elsewhere in the state.<\/p>\n
The $810,000 median across Southern California\u2019s six-county region was down 1% over the past year and 3% below its peak. It\u2019s up only 8% over the past four years.<\/p>\n
The statewide March median of $736,000 was down 1% over the past year, 2% below its peak, and up just 5% over four years.<\/p>\n
Yet Orange County\u2019s price strength is on par with the nation. The U.S. median of $372,274 was up 4% over the past year, 1% below its peak, and up 15% over the past four years.<\/p>\n
Could the price record be tied to a shortage of choices for house hunters?<\/p>\n
The number of homes for sale did jump 32% in the year ending in March, according to Realtor.com stats. But the inventory remains 38% below 2019 levels, the pre-pandemic days considered the industry norm.<\/p>\n
Not affordable<\/p>\n
Just ponder the Orange County house payment a typical March buyer got \u2013 $5,921, assuming they bought the median-priced residence at the three-month average mortgage rate of 6.1% with a 20% down payment.<\/p>\n
And let\u2019s say you wanted that payment to be only 25% of your household income. You better be making at least $284,000 annually.<\/p>\n
Note, this buyer\u2019s burden doesn\u2019t include taxes, insurance, association fees and maintenance expenses.<\/p>\n
And you\u2019ll need cash for the $244,000 down payment.<\/p>\n
The modest good news is that, thanks to lower mortgage rates in March, this estimated payment was 7% below the peak of $6,380 reached in June 2024.<\/p>\n
However, the payment yardstick has risen 57% over the past four years, while Orange County\u2019s average weekly wage rose only 13%, according to one federal pay index.<\/p>\n
However, the Orange County job market is wobbly, down 1,700 jobs in the past two years after adding workers at a 20,000-a-year pace during the previous 10 years.<\/p>\n
Not selling<\/p>\n
But let\u2019s be honest. Not many people can afford Orange County pricing.<\/p>\n
Consider sales counts. The 2,154 completed transactions in March represented the fourth-slowest buying pace for March since 2005.<\/p>\n
Yes, sales were up 1% year over year. But they\u2019re also 25% below the 22-year average.<\/p>\n
Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at jlansner@scng.com<\/a><\/p>\n