Homebuilders are commanding the highest prices on record, with the median amount paid for a new Orange County home soaring to an all-time high of $909,000 in February, CoreLogic DataQuick reported Tuesday.

That tops the pre-recession peak by $45,000, spurred by sky-high land costs, heftier construction costs and rising demand from Chinese buyers and move-up home shoppers with large down payments, experts said. “It’s getting more and more difficult to build a new home for under $800,000,” said Irvine housing consultant John Burns. “A surge of affluent buyers (and) affluent immigrants is driving prices up.”

In addition, most of the new homes now selling are in higher-priced developments like Orchard Hills, the Great Park and Rancho Mission Viejo, said Tim Kane, president of Irvine-based MBK Homes. But the new-home market is uncharacteristic of housing overall. While Orange County’s new-home median is 5 percent above the pre-recession peak, the all-home median is 8 percent below peak levels, DataQuick figures show.

Other key housing developments:

• The overall median – the price at the midpoint of all Orange County home sales – was $590,750 in February, up 4.2 percent from a year ago, DataQuick reported. That’s the smallest appreciation rate among six Southern California counties, which averaged 8.4 percent.
• Total home sales in Orange County were down 1.5 percent in February from year-ago levels, dropping to 2,074, according to DataQuick’s latest report. But those numbers reflect transactions signed in December and January, typically the slowest months of the year.
• Steve Thomas of ReportsOnHousing.com reported this week that new escrows “accelerated dramatically” in February and early March, with buyer demand up 21 percent from last year. Those deals won’t be reflected in DataQuick’s numbers until March and April. “January and February don’t make great bellwether months,” said DataQuick analyst Andrew Le-Page.
• While new-home prices were up 16.4 percent last month, new-home sales fell 13.9 percent – the fourth straight month they have dropped year over year. But new-home sales had been increasing for two years before November, and they hit an eight-year high last year.
• The pace of homebuilding also has held steady. Building permits were issued for 9,800 units in 2014, compared with just over 10,000 in 2012, according to Construction Industry Research Board figures.
• The median price of existing houses increased 3.1 percent to $640,000 in February, which is $94,000 below the pre-recession peak. Sales were up 4.5 percent, according to DataQuick.
• The median price for an existing condo rose 5.8 percent to $407,500. Sales fell 8.6 percent.
• CoreLogic also reported Tuesday that 8,411 Orange County homeowners regained equity in their homes in 2014. As of the fourth quarter of 2014, 19,648 Orange County homes were worth less than what was owed on their mortgage. That’s 30 percent fewer than in the same quarter of 2013. In 96.4 percent of mortgaged Orange County properties, the owners had equity – the third-highest percentage among the nation’s 25 largest metro areas, CoreLogic reported. That compares with 89 percent nationwide.

After a quiet start to the year, “all of a sudden, we’re really, really active,” said Anaheim Hills agent Carole Geronsin. “Showings have increased dramatically. Open houses have increased dramatically. We had one open house where 50 couples came through,” she said.

Agent Mila Evans of the Key Home Group in Irvine is seeing a similar trend. “More homes are coming on the market, but there are a good number of buyers who are looking and ready to buy,” Evans said. “Interest (rates) are still low and a lot of people are still trying to take advantage of that.”

Agents predicted that home price gains will stay modest for the rest of the year. “Buyers are not biting on grossly overpriced homes,” said Thomas of ReportsOnHousing.com.