Real Estate Expert Blog

A city of nearly 200,000 on the coastal beaches of the famed Orange County, Huntington Beach, California, is renowned for its more than 8-mile long beach, a popular attraction for surfers from all over the world. The city’s median household income was estimated in 2007 to be above $80,000, and housing prices are generally quite high. The Huntington Beach real estate market saw a slide beginning in late 2008 when the credit crisis began to plague the U.S., and as the country’s real estate bubbles began to pop, Huntington Beach saw its values plummet as well.

Since the onset of the recession, the market here has seen many fluctuations, rising and falling like the waves that crash upon its shore. For the month of February, according to the Orange County Register‘s Zip Code Chart available on DQ News, two of Huntington Beach’s four Zip codes saw the median sales price for homes rise, while two fell compared with the same figures from one year ago. The two area’s that saw drops in prices ended up with median prices of $690,000, down just 2.5%, and $512,500, down just 4.2%. The improved markets saw prices of $550,000, up 3.8%, and $539,000, up a significant 24.9%. Sales volume in February fell in all but one Zip code, with falls ranging from 12% to 18%. The one market that saw activity rise saw 18 sales, a 12.5% increase year-over-year.

More recent figures suggest more improvements in 2010 among the market for Huntington Beach homes for sale. According to the OC Register, in the three-week period ending March 25, prices were up in three of Huntington Beach’s four Zip codes, and sales activity was up year-over-year in two areas. The median prices ranged from $449,250 (an increase of 2.1%) to $820,000 (a 6.1% increase). Sales volume ranged from 15 homes sold in the lowest-activity Zip code (which accounted for a full 50% drop from the previous year) to as many as 51 homes sold in the busiest Zip code, an increase of 4.1% from 2009.

The community still faces a serious problem of foreclosures, with the OC Register reporting that 57% of the 343 Huntington Beach properties in escrow in March were distressed homes. Additionally, 20% of homes sold in March were in foreclosure or a short sale, while 8% were bank-owned homes. In March, there were 329 homes listed for sale, ranging from $399,000 to $5.95 million, and 223 condos, ranging from $129,100 to $1.39 million.