← Market Briefs · Choice of America
Orange County asking prices slip to their lowest level since 2023 as price cuts spread
Orange County’s median ask fell to $1,287,500 in September — the lowest since May 2023 — with price cuts on about 38% of active listings and pending sales down roughly 18% year over year.
The typical Orange County home was listed for $1,287,500 in September 2026, according to Realtor.com housing data published by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (FRED series MEDLISPRI6059). That is the lowest median listing price in the county since May 2023, when it was $1,280,000. It is down from $1,299,000 in August, about 8% below this year's high of $1,399,000 in March, and about 6.5% below the $1,377,500 median in September 2025.
Measured per square foot, the decline is gentler. The median listing price per square foot was $704 in September (FRED MEDLISPRIPERSQUFEE6059), compared with $724 a year earlier, a drop of under 3%. The gap between the two measures suggests part of the slide in the headline median reflects a shift in which homes are on the market, not only sellers lowering their prices.
Sellers are lowering prices, though. 1,810 Orange County listings had a price reduction in September (FRED PRIREDCOU6059), the highest count of the year and up from 1,768 in August. That works out to about 38% of the 4,735 active listings (FRED ACTLISCOU6059), compared with about 33% in September 2025.
Fewer homes are going into escrow. Pending listings, meaning homes with an accepted offer, fell to 1,655 in September (FRED PENLISCOU6059), the lowest count since January 2026 and about 18% below the 2,027 pending listings a year earlier. That is roughly 35 homes in escrow for every 100 active listings, compared with about 44 per 100 in September 2025. Active inventory, at 4,735, is about 4% higher than a year ago.
Homes are also taking longer to sell than they did in the spring. The median listing spent 53 days on the market in September (FRED MEDDAYONMAR6059), up from 43 days in March and April, though still faster than the 57 days recorded in September 2025. New listings came to 2,114 (FRED NEWLISCOU6059), about the same as the 2,090 a year earlier.
What this means day to day: from Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, and the South County coast to Irvine, Anaheim, Fullerton, and Santa Ana, buyers this fall have more room to negotiate than they did in the spring, particularly on homes that have already been reduced or have been listed for several weeks. Ask about seller credits toward closing costs or a rate buydown, not just a lower price. For sellers, the numbers favor pricing close to recent comparable sales from the first day, because a listing that starts high is now more likely to sit and end up among the nearly four in ten that cut later. Both sides should compare the full monthly cost, including the mortgage, property taxes, insurance, and any HOA or Mello-Roos assessments, rather than the list price alone.
At Choice of America, we help buyers and sellers across Orange County read these numbers city by city and neighborhood by neighborhood. Visit our Orange County page for local guidance, or call or text us to talk through your plans. Visit https://choiceofamerica.com/.
Dr. Hamid Rowshan, DRE #02004794, company DRE #02240008. Choice of America, serving Orange, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino, and San Diego counties. Call or text 833-THIS-BROKER, (833) 842-7465.
Sources: Realtor.com via FRED, Median Listing Price, Orange County, CA: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEDLISPRI6059 · Realtor.com via FRED, Median Listing Price per Square Feet, Orange County, CA: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEDLISPRIPERSQUFEE6059 · Realtor.com via FRED, Price Reduced Count, Orange County, CA: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/PRIREDCOU6059 · Realtor.com via FRED, Active Listing Count, Orange County, CA: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/ACTLISCOU6059 · Realtor.com via FRED, Pending Listing Count, Orange County, CA: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/PENLISCOU6059 · Realtor.com via FRED, Median Days on Market, Orange County, CA: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEDDAYONMAR6059 · Realtor.com via FRED, New Listing Count, Orange County, CA: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/NEWLISCOU6059