Life is full of “good news/bad news” situations. According to the Sunday Register, Lake Forest real estate falls into that classification. The good news is that in 2013 home sale prices grew in Lake Forest at an incredible 31.5% rate. That put us at #2 among all 83 zip codes in Orange County, with our neighbor San Juan Capistrano at 35.9%.
The bad news is that we are still among the lowest priced real estate in South Orange County, exceeding only Laguna Woods in the median price of our homes sold so far in 2014. Here are the figures for the bottom 15 zip codes –
Laguna Woods - $220,000
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LAKE FOREST - $406,250
Aliso Viejo - $425,000
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RSM - $456,000
Irvine (92614) - $470,000
Mission Viejo (92692) - $515,000
Ladera Ranch - $535,500
Mission Viejo (92691) - $555,000
Irvine (92606) - $555,000
Irvine (92604) – $567,000
Irvine (92612) - $598,000
Laguna Hills - $610,000
FOOTHILL RANCH - $610,000
Laguna Niguel - $635,000
Irvine (92602) - $670,000
FWIW – I can’t help but have my suspicions that one of the reasons our home prices are lower than almost any other City down here is that our amenities are much less than any other City down here. Other cities have a civic center, a senior center, a dog park, a local animal shelter, a community foundation, etc. Can it be that the City’s policy of underserving our citizens is reflected in the value of our homes?
We can take some comfort in a 31.5% increase in the value of our homes in 2013, but as the prices in all the rest of the cities around us shows, we have a long way to go.
