When people think of California’s luxury housing markets, headline-grabbing destinations like Beverly Hills and the tech-fueled enclaves of Silicon Valley overrun with billionaires come to mind. But Orange County has been quietly staging a luxury surge of its own.
Located about 35 miles southeast of the bustle of downtown Los Angeles, Orange County is worlds apart from the high-octane big-city living.
Dotted with wealthy coastal enclaves, Orange County is synonymous with stunning beaches and spectacularly expensive mansions overlooking the ocean.
Affluent buyers with a taste for quiet luxury and privacy have taken notice of OC's well-heeled—often gated—communities, sending the median listing price in the region surging more than 70% over the past decade, from roughly $800,000 in October 2016 to $1.36 million last month, housing data analysis by Realtor.com® economists reveals.
"There's a lot of homes selling [for] $2,000 to $3,000 a square foot in the most desirable communities, and that's rivaling prices in L.A.," Paul Daftarian, Orange County’s leading record-setting power broker and co-founder of The Daftarian Group, tells Realtor.com. "So this is kind of a coming of age for us. ...There's been an explosion of wealthy people."
For context, the typical home in Orange County in October cost about $230,000 more than one in L.A. but roughly $53,000 less than a property in San Jose, CA, which is the nation's most expensive market.
“I think what COVID did was it really made people realize this is definitely a resort destination," Daftarian says. "It's a very great place to raise a family. It's safe, clean, stress-free living. It's beautiful. It's become much more luxurious."
And it's not just buyers from other parts of California who have been flocking to the OC. According to Daftarian, the region is also seeing a major influx of foreign buyers, specifically from Asia.
However, Orange County's market has been showing some softness lately, with the median listing price in the area ticking down 1.1% from September and 2.3% compared to October 2024.
Realtor.com Senior Economist Anthony Smith says this short-term downward trajectory reflects what he calls a "modest correction after years of steady growth."
The county's luxury tier shows similar broader resilience coupled with recent easing across all price points, offering high-net-worth buyers some breathing room.
For example, the top 10% of listings currently begin at just under $45 million, down 8.4% year over year. The top 5% tier starts at about $72 million, representing a 7.7% decline from last year.
At the ultraluxury level, the top 1% starts at an eye-popping $19.9 million, representing an annual drop of more than 13%.
"While all luxury tiers remain below their early-2024 peaks, the rate of decline is slowing, suggesting that pricing across the broader Orange County luxury market may be finding a floor and entering the early stages of stabilization," says Smith.
By comparison, national luxury housing tiers have seen more modest declines, ranging from 2.1% for the top 5% to 3.3% for the top 1%.
It's important to point out that Orange County's housing market is far from monolithic, with significant variations in pricing across some of its most sought-after cities.
"In smaller, high-demand cities where active listings often number in the low hundreds, even modest shifts in the makeup of available homes can produce large swings in median prices," says Smith.
Daftarian agrees, stressing that even though some of the communities are located "just minutes apart," their housing markets "function completely differently from one another," he says.
