CoreLogic’s widely watched median selling price for Orange County in California hit $645,000 in April, the first time back at the last boom’s pinnacle reached in June 2007. Area appraisers, though, are suggesting that Orange County’s homes still aren’t worth what they were at the peak of last decade’s buying frenzy.
The Real Estate Research Council of Southern California, a coalition of regional market watchers and real estate professionals housed at Cal Poly Pomona, sends out volunteer appraisers to re-evaluate the same 39 Orange County homes every six months.
The Real Estate Research Council of Southern California’s appraisal index attempts to eliminate what it says are the flaws of measurements based on closed sales, according to a report from the Orange County Register. Median selling prices, for example, can be swayed by an ever-changing mix of what real estate is being bought for. Yet, the appraisal index’s sample of homes studied is far smaller than, say, the 3,285 homes that comprise the CoreLogic median selling price for April.
For April, the council’s index was up 5.4 percent in a year. That adds up to a 35 percent jump since the cyclical bottom hit four years ago. However, this index is still 9 percent below its peak, hit in October 2006 – unlike CoreLogic’s local median that’s all the way back. This difference in index results cements the notion that many homeowners have yet to recoup their declines in values.