California News Blog

The Laguna Niguel housing market, part of the larger Southern Orange County real estate market, showed strong signs of improvement compared to a year earlier. According to a June 15, 2010 article from the Orange County Register, “For calendar month May – DataQuick’s latest stats – the 19 ZIPs located in south inland communities showed…947 homes sold, that is +46.1% vs. a year ago. The median selling price of these ZIPs was $520,000 – that is +4.9% vs. a year ago.” The piece continued to state that “The south inland ZIPs comprised 29.9% of the recent home sales in Orange County vs. 24.9% a year ago…36 ZIP codes in beach towns and inland South County communities had 1,515 home sales. That’s up 43.7% vs. a year ago.”

The recovery of the overall Orange County economy, which partially determines the number of Laguna Niguel homes for sale, is not as rapid as some analysts had expected. According to a June 3, 2010 article from the OC Metro, “Attendees got what they came for with news that an uptick in new jobs, consumer confidence and median home prices all point to a ‘weak but sustained recovery through 2011.’ The lagging construction industry, however, is expected to stall a more robust rebound.” The piece, composed by Kimberly A. Porrazzo, went on to say that “Typically, GDP growth is in the 6 percent range following a recession. Chapman’s forecast last December called for a mild recovery – around 3 percent…The report underscored the fact that the recession’s impact on Orange County was greater than previously though. Revised statistics from the Employment Development Department show that the county lost 110,200 payroll jobs during 2009, instead of the previously reported 64,800.”

The jobless rate will likely not reach pre-recession levels until next year, which might stall the recovery of the Laguna Niguel housing market. According to a June 3, 2010 article from the Orange County Business Journal, “Orange County isn’t expected to start adding jobs until 2011, according to a midyear economic forecast update released by Chapman University Thursday. Economists at the university in Orange now expect a 1.2% drop in employment for nearly 18,000 jobs lost in 2010, a sharp pullback from the 1,000 job gain it predicted in December.”