Newport Beach Real Estate

The Newport Beach real estate market, a generally expensive portion of the larger Orange County housing market, saw signs of strength and recovery in the most recent tracking period. Foreclosure sales declined, while the median price was the highest in the country. According to a September 30, 2010 report from the OC Metro, “Orange County foreclosure sales fell 27 percent in the second quarter from the same time last year, though transactions rose about 3 percent from the first quarter, according to figures released by Irvine-based RealtyTrac. A total of 3,524 properties in some stage of foreclosure – default, scheduled for auction or bank-owned – sold to third parties in the period. That number accounts for 31.5 percent of all residential sales in the county, down from about 43 percent in the second quarter of last year. The number also declined from 38 percent in the first quarter, according to the report…In Orange County, the average selling price for a foreclosed home was $420,336 – it’s a 22 percent discount, according to RealtyTrac. Meanwhile, 1,189 REO sales – transactions that occur while a property is actively bank owned – took place in the county in the second quarter. The number is down a whopping 57 percent from the same time last year, though it rose 2.5 percent from the first quarter.”

Newport Beach homes for sale were the most expensive in the country, according to Coldwell Banker and a second report from the OC Metro published on September 22, 2010. This article, written by Kristen Schott, noted that “Newport Beach takes the top spot among the 10 most expensive housing markets in America, with an average listing price of $1.8 million for a four-bedroom, two-bathroom property, according to a study conducted by New Jersey-based Coldwell Banker Real Estate. The most affordable housing market in the U.S. is Detroit, Mich., with an average listing price of $68,000. That equates to a $1.7 million difference between Newport Beach and Detroit, according to the Home Listing Report, which measured more than 18,000 four-bedroom, two-bathroom properties in nearly 300 markets across the U.S. The average listing price among homes surveyed is $353,000.”