Real estate investor John Saggiani bought 15 condos in south Santa Ana's MacArthur Village last year, scooping up foreclosed properties at affordable rates. When he bought his first unit there in March, he thought he had found a steal, paying $140,000 for a bankowned unit that might have sold above $285,000 at the market's peak. Last week, he went into escrow on a similar property that had been offered for under $100,000. 

    In 2008, sales there doubled to more than 500 transactions, but the median price of homes trading hands fell by nearly half, the second-biggest price drop among the county's 83 ZIP codes, according to
market tracker MDA DataQuick. 

       At the opposite end of the spectrum in 2008 is Newport Beach's 92661, the Balboa Peninsula.  The median price there, or price at the midpoint of all sales,topped $1.8 million, DataQuick reported. But with just 34 sales, housing transactions dropped 37 percent, Orange County's biggest percentage drop
of the year. That, in a nutshell, sums up the 2008 housing market: Cheaper homes selling at bargain prices went like hot cakes. But while pricier homes may have held their values better, very few sold.

    DataQuick reported that the 2008 median home price was $450,000.That's down $168,000, or 27 percent, from 2007's median price of $618,000. It was the lowest annual median since 2003, DataQuick figures show. The volume of homes sold was 26,551, the smallest number of transactions since DataQuick began tracking Orange County housing in 1988.

    Just three of Orange County's 83 ZIP codes posted price gains last year: Laguna Beach, Corona del Mar and Balboa Island, all of which had a 2008 median value of $1.5 million and above.

    Balboa Island was an exception to the county's overall trend: both its prices and sales went up last year. The median price on the island which encompasses Newport Beach's 92662 ZIP code -rose 18 percent, the
county's biggest increase; sales were up by a third, the 16th biggest gain of that type.

    Home sales, meanwhile, fell in 54 of the county's 83 ZIPs, increasing in 38. The average median price of the 10 ZIPs with the biggest sales gains was $336,000. The average median of the ZIPS with the biggest sales declines: nearly $1.2 million. 

    San Juan Capistrano had the county's biggest price drop. The median price of a home there was $378,750, less than half of its 2007 median of $775,000. Meanwhile in south Santa Ana's 92707 area, investors and owner-occupants alike took advantage of record price drops that were second only to those in San Juan Capistrano.

    "People who have waited it out all these years" bought homes there in 2008, said Seven Gables' Covarrubias. She estimated that older houses in the area that once sold for $600,000 now are selling for under $300,000.

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