O.C. Cash Home Purchases Near State Low

While median home prices ended 1998 in Orange County at an all-time high, those who paid cash for their homes dropped nearly to rock bottom.

Orange County ranked second only to Alameda County in the Bay Area on the statewide list of areas with the fewest cash purchases. Last year, there were 4,000 home buyers who paid cash--7.5% of the total, according to Acxiom/Dataquick Information Systems, a real estate research firm based in La Jolla. In Alameda County, only 7% of the purchases were in cash.

Most cash purchases are made by retirees, who are selling homes they’ve owned for years to buy something smaller, or by affluent people, said Mike Ela, an analyst at the company.

Overall, 60,211 homes in California were purchased without mortgages last year--11.7% of the total. Riverside and San Luis Obispo counties had the highest rate of cash sales, 18.8%.

Communities such as Aliso Viejo and Trabuco/Coto de Caza reported fewer than 5% cash sales. The county’s newer communities tend to attract move-up buyers who are less likely to pay in cash. Many cash buyers tend to move to more affluent communities along the coast, or further inland, such as Palm Springs, analyst John Karevoll said.