Did April Home Price Beat the Bubble?

The median price of an Orange County home hit $644,000 in the four weeks ending on April 25 – just $1,000 shy of the all time high of $645,000 set in June 2007, CoreLogic’s weekly update shows.

When CoreLogic releases its final April housing report on Tuesday, Orange County’s market may be the first in Southern California to regain ground lost when the housing bubble burst in late July 2007.

The weekly housing number released Friday includes home sales for the final five days of March and does not include the final four days of April.

The median price is up 8.5 percent from the same four-week period in 2015 and is 3 percent higher than March’s median, or price at the midpoint of all sales.

But fewer people appeared to be willing or able to buy Orange County residences at April’s prices.

Transactions were down 3.5 percent in the period to 3,400 closings.

Even if April’s final median price meets or beats the 2007 record, housing here is still a bargain compared to the bubble once inflation is taken into account.

A home costing $645,000 today still is worth about $96,000 less than the amount paid in 2007 dollars.