Newport-Mesa home prices up again

Andrew Edwards

Chalk up another month to the seller’s market. Real estate statistics

released Tuesday show that home prices increased again in most

Newport-Mesa neighborhoods in June.

The local area with the largest increase was the ZIP Code that

includes Newport Coast. Numbers from La Jolla-based DataQuick

Information Services show the median price for a home or condo in

that area was just a shade under $2 million. According to the

numbers, the year-over-year median home and condo price increase

around Newport Coast was slightly more than 110%.

Across Orange County, June’s median home and condo prices hit

$603,000, according to DataQuick. The county’s median home price for

June was almost 12% higher than during the same month last year.

Newport Coast price figures are a little different for the agents

at Coldwell Banker Previews International, executive vice president

Steve High said. High said numbers for that company, which

specializes in luxury homes, are higher than DataQuick’s since their

definition of Newport Coast does not include the entire 92657 zip

code.

For High and his colleagues, the median price for a Newport Coast

home is closer to $2.4 million.

“You expect the average sales price to be higher because these

houses tend to be larger and newer than other developments,” High

said.

In a similar vein, Judy Muncy of the Prudential California

Realty-affiliated Judy Muncy Collection echoed the oft-repeated real

estate mantra of “location, location, location,” when she cited

reasons for Newport Coast’s high prices.

New homes, the Pelican Hill Golf Club, low density and access to

other beach communities are attracting home buyers who have the

financial resources for pricy, coastal homes, Muncy said.

Muncy and High agreed land scarcity is another important factor

that has bolstered home prices.

“We’ve run out of land. There is no more land,” Muncy said.

Only two Newport-Mesa neighborhoods, both in Newport Beach, had

year-over-year price declines in June. In the 92660 ZIP Code, which

includes homes around Newport Center and the Upper Newport Bay,

median home and condo prices declined by only 1.9% to $1,275,000.

Balboa Island’s median prices dropped 28.7% to $2.3 million.

DataQuick’s figures show only two Balboa Island properties were sold

in June.

In all of Newport Beach, inventory remains low, High said. He said

293 Newport Beach properties were on the market Tuesday, the third

lowest number in the past 10 years. The only times residences were

more scarce, High said, were in March and April of last year.

Median home and condo prices rose across Costa Mesa in June.

In north Costa Mesa, median prices went up 9.6% to $675,000. First

Team Real Estate Agent Lori Robnett said she has observed some

sellers having to lower prices in Costa Mesa after entering the

market with high asking prices.

“It’s just affordability. The payments are too high,” Robnett

said.

Whether real estate prices have climbed to unsustainable highs is

a question that’s too hard to answer, Robnett said.

“It could go another two years like this and go up. Or, it could

go down in a month,” Robnett said.

* ANDREW EDWARDS covers business and the environment. He can be

reached at (714) 966-4624 or by e-mail at andrew.edwards

@latimes.com.