Falling real estate prices are becoming as much a feature of high-end neighborhoods as ocean views, infinity pools and four-car garages,” reported Brett Arends of the Wall Street Journal on September 23, 2009.  Newport Beach real estate is considered in this top tier of residential communities geared to only most affluent Americans.  The article quotes Chad Rogers, a Beverly Hills-based realtor as saying, “I would say we’re 40% off 2007 prices for everything.”  The article believes that several luxury properties across the nation, including several Newport Beach homes for sale “only account for about 2% of the properties listed on the site, but represent 25% of the total price reductions by value. Overall, sellers listing homes for more than $2 million have dropped their asking prices by a total of $7 billion, with an average price reduction of 14%.”

Real estate reporter for the OC Register, Marilyn Kalfus, suggested that people looking into discounted Orange County homes look at real estate in Newport Beach.  Apparently, “In Orange County overall, price reductions have remained pretty steady in the past 5 months; As of Oct. 1, 26.7% of listings had price cuts, compared with 26.8% in September, 29% in August, 28.6 in July and 30.1% in June.”  In October, Newport Beach homes had been cut about thirteen percent to an average price after cut of $1,842,450.  However, while the trend sees that prices continue to decline, analysts don’t recommend prospective buyers wait any longer and current sellers actively sell.  They believe that “interest in real estate typically wanes at the end of the year, which means that sellers who didn’t aggressively price their homes may find themselves making difficult decisions to reduce their prices or delay the sale until interest piques again in January.”