Consulting Firm Reports Big Jump in O.C. New-Home Sales

In a sign that the Orange County housing market is gaining strength despite rising mortgage interest rates, sales of new homes jumped 31.5% for the second quarter, a real estate consulting firm reported Tuesday.

An estimated 2,430 new homes were sold during the past three months, compared to 1,845 transactions for the same period of 1993, Meyers Group, a Newport Beach consulting company. Sales were up 37.5% from the first three months of this year, when 1,767 new houses and condominiums sold.

“Combined with an adequate supply coming into the market and good sales volume, this quarter’s figures show a very healthy marketplace in Orange County for new homes,” said Buck Panchal, senior consultant with Meyers Group.

Most of the increase in sales was in the detached housing, Panchal said. Sales of so-called high-density detached homes, or single-family homes located close together, were responsible for some of that increase, he said.