One of the highest-priced communities in one of the highest-priced real estate communities in America, Corona del Mar, California, is an upscale community of large, luxurious homes in Southern California’s famed Orange County. Over the past couple of years, the community has seen its real estate market go for a wild ride as the community felt the squeeze from the wider financial crisis as many of its residents lost assets and jobs and were forced from their homes and unable to sell for their original values.

The Corona del Mar real estate has seen many fluctuations over the past two years, and one can only wonder when the community’s market will again return to a stable condition. According to statistics published on an Orange County Register real estate blog in March, the month of February showed mixed signals in the Corona del Mar market. There were 13 homes sold in the community for the month, an increase of 30% from figures of the year prior and an encouraging sign.

However, pricing still shows much room for improvement. The median price of a home sold in Corona del Mar in February was $1.3 million, a drop of more than 26% from the median price in February of 2009. Pricing of Corona del Mar homes for sale showed a similar trend throughout the whole of 2009. According to Data Quick, the service from which the OC Register obtains its data, in all of 2009, Corona del Mar saw a median price of $1.35 million, down nearly 23% year-over-year. Despite the troubling pricing, sales activity was up — with 169 homes sold in 2009, up 13.4% from 2008.

Despite the wavering signals in Corona del Mar, the whole of Southern California seems to be showing signs for relief, and perhaps the Corona del Mar market will pick up along with the rest of the area in due time. Homes sales in the SoCal region have been up from 20 months in a row and as of mid-March, overall, median prices rose year-over-year for three months straight.