Real Estate

In 2000, 68% of residents said that buying a home was either a good or an excellent investment. Today, that number is 56%, suggesting that many people still feel optimistic about the future of residential real estate. Significant differences are found among home owners and renters. Sixty-five percent of renters think that purchasing a home is only a fair or a poor investment, compared to 36% of home owners.

Despite the nearly 25% decline in median housing prices, the purchase of a home is still out of reach for many Orange County residents.  More than one-third of respondents in both surveys said that they were not satisfied with the availability of affordable housing in their region (34%, 2000; 36%, 2010).  In 2010, 54% of renters are “not satisfied” with the availability of affordable housing. Little progress has been made in the last 10 years in this area, despite state and federal mandates to Orange County cities to increase the number of affordable housing units.