It looks like the higher-end, luxury homes in Orange County are starting to feel the same pinch that has been felling the "moderate" priced homes (or at least as moderately priced as homes get in Orange County) for some time.
According to DataQuick Information Systems, the median sales price in zip code 92260 in Newport Beach fell by 34% in April 2008, which would lead to the likely conclusion that high end prices are coming down.
The fun thing with statistics is that sometimes they are hard to follow.
Although the median sales price for Newport Beach's 92660 fell, there was a dramatic increase in the median sales price in Newport Beach's 92663 zip code to $2.49 million, up 66% in the same month that saw 92660 down 34%.
How is this possible, and what does it mean? In a time when there are fewer sales happening, a few extraordinarily high sales or low sales can tip the median prices significantly.
Given the confusion, how can a person truly value a home? The best bet is probably to look at comparables sales as close to the home as possible and as similar as possible because there is likely to be a huge diversity in prices even within zip codes, especially in a zip code like 92663 which encompasses everything from beach front and bay front mansions to small condos with no view of anything.
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