San Clemente Real Estate

Located in the southernmost part of the famed Orange County in Southern California, the city of San Clemente is a mid-sized community, home to more than 65,000. San Clemente lies roughly in between the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego. It is a more modest city by Orange County standards, with a median annual income estimated at around $83,000 in 2007, though San Clemente real estate still tends to fall in the mid to upper range of Orange County real estate in terms of price. The city’s real estate sector has been suffering over the past two or three years, as the fallout from the economic downturn in the U.S. has wreaked havoc on the Orange County real estate sector.

At the end of 2009, the Orange County Register’s annual zip code chart showed San Clemente had suffered much through the 12-month period. Its median home prices were $565,500 in the first zip code (92672), down more than 18% year-over-year, while the second zip code (92673) saw a slightly higher median of $660,000, down by more than 15% annually. The city’s two zip codes both saw increase in sales activity, however, with 376 sales, up 43.5% in the first zip code, and 497 sales, up 7% yearly, as more buyers looked to take advantage of the lower home prices.

So far this year, the market for San Clemente homes for sale has shown better signs of promise. In the Orange County Register’s monthly zip code chart, San Clemente’s first zip code had a median price of $571,500, up by more than 14.5% from March 2009. Its second zip code, while still down annually, stood at $701,500, down only around 2.5% though yearly. Sales remained strong in both zip codes in March, with 39 and 51 homes sold during the 30 days, up 30% and 82% year-over-year, respectively.

More recently, the slide seems to have kicked in again, as prices have fallen yet again. According to the most recent statistics available on the Orange County Register’s real estate blog, for a three-week period ended April 27, San Clemente saw median prices of $566,000 and $622,500, down 12% and 7%, respectively, on an annual basis. Sales began to show their first signs of falling, with only 29 homes sold in the city’s first zip code, a 9.4% annual decrease, and only a 2.8% increase in volume in the second zip code, which numbered 37 sales.