Newport Beach Tops OC In Sales, Pricing

Newport Beach was ranked the strongest real estate market in Orange County in the latest Zippy rankings, a list of the county's most promising real estate markets classified by ZIP codes. Four out of the ten ZIPs on the list, including the top two, were Newport Beach neighborhoods.

ZIP code 92660, which includes the Back Bay area approaching Fashion Island, took the top spot out of the 83 Orange County ZIPs studied. It ranked seventh in terms of pricing, second for sales, and sixth for foreclosure frequencies. The area barely made the top 20 last year, coming it at 19th place.

Newport Beach 92663, closer to the coast, ranked second, while upscale Newport Coast ranked sixth. The Balboa Peninsula area, particularly the 92661 ZIP, came in eighth. Other top rankers included three neigborhoods in Irvine and one each in Fullerton, Orange, and Laguna Beach.

The top ten was most notably dominated by beach towns, reaffirming experts' theories that coastal areas are both the hardest hit by and the quickest to recover from real estate slumps. Also worth noting is that the top 25 ZIPs had a median price of $635,000, 35% higher than the countywide median of $430,000.

The top 25 also showed year-over-year improvements in various aspects, including a 17% rise in home price momentum and a 54% increase in sales. Foreclosures are also lower than the rest of the county, averaging 1.4 homes per thousand versus 2.6 countywide.

Newport Beach 92661 (ranked eighth) topped the list in terms of pricing and foreclosure density, meaning it had the most stable home price medians and the lowest ratio of foreclosures in O.C.

The Zippy rankings are based on three performance benchmarks: the year-over-year change in sales and pricing momentum, and the ratio of foreclosures in a given neighborhood.

 

Earlier in Newport Beach Real Estate News:
Corona del Mar Homes Hardest To Sell In O.C.
Corona Del Mar Home Sells At $12 Million Cut
Newport Beach Makes California Top 10 Gains List