The Dana Point real estate market, which is part of the larger Orange County, California housing market, saw some negative news in recent weeks. According to statistics reported by the Orange County Register, the number of homes for sale in the region saw a drop in available properties during the last few weeks of 2010. Over the two final weeks of December 2010, there were more than two hundred fewer homes on the Orange County real estate market, reaching a point slightly below ten thousand properties for the first time in more than a year and a half. The most recent figure is 9,987 properties, representing a decrease of about sixteen percent from the highest quantity of inventory, which was seen in September 2010. Compared to the same time last year, however, there were 2,694 fewer properties on the market. Calculated in terms of time, inventory currently stands at just over five months, meaning that it would take about five months for all currently available properties to be purchased given the current rate of home sales. This is a significantly longer period than two weeks and a year ago, although it is shorter than the inventory period seen two years ago. Unsurprisingly, the same set of statistics indicated that high-end homes, which are prevalent on Orange County, spent a substantially longer period of time on the market compared to middle and lower tier properties.

According to the Orange County Business Journal, the median sales price of Dana Point homes for sale crossed the $500,000 threshold in the month of November 2010. Despite a disappointing sales rate, the average sales price of a pre-existing home sale saw a median price of $502,170. That number represented a nearly three percent increase from October of 2010 and a slightly less substantial increase from November 2009. Prices in Orange County have been around the $500,000 mark for several months, and have remained considerably depressed since the peak of the market, which was achieved before the economic recession began. Orange County’s median price was still substantially higher than the rest of the Golden State, by more than $200,000.