According to an article in The Orange County Register, Irvine has a higher total assessed real estate value (this includes commercial and residential) than any other O.C. city. Newport Beach and Anaheim follow right behind with $40.2 billion and $35.9 billion, respectively.

However, when it comes to the city with the biggest gain in total assessed value over the previous year, a different story exists. With a year-over-year increase of 4.8%, Huntington Beach gets the top spot. And with a year-over-year gain of 3.6%, Newport Beach also surpasses Irvine in this category.

Orange County had a 2.1% year-over-year increase in combined assessed property value. And 33 of Orange County’s 34 cities had gains in taxable value. But it’s not all good news: “[T]he market continued to be a mixed bag last year, with more real estate parcels having value drops last year than increases, the assessor’s office said.” Of the 340,000 real estate parcel appraised by the assessor’s office, 101,000 had reduced taxable values, and 82,000 had increased values. New construction and property sales at increased prices are the reasons that the assessor sees as the root of increased property taxes.

Irvine has had increased construction. And when it comes to residential real estate, Redfin stats show that the overall median selling price of Irvine homes in June 2012 is down 7.8% from the previous year. But Irvine’s median sold price per square foot for the same period is up 1.2%. However, the assessor’s numbers are comparing 2011 numbers to 2010 numbers. Redfin’s numbers are comparing 2012 numbers to 2011 numbers.

So what do you think? Is Orange County limping along to an improved economy? And when it comes to the highest total assessed property values, what are the factors that give Irvine the top spot over cities like Newport Beach and Anaheim? And the last question: What factors are contributing to Huntington Beach and Anaheim’s higher percentage gains?

Note:

Here is more food for thought to consider when deciding what is going on with our economy: On a Marketplace report, Nigel Gault, chief U.S. economist at IHS Global Insight, stated that we are now back to making the same amount of goods that we made before the recession. However, 5 million less American’s are making that stuff. The reason given was an increase in productivity technology.

But a counter reason was also given. Gary Burtless of the Brookings Institute stated that we were overbuilding in our recent past, and these construction jobs are not coming back. “At the moment, our shortfall is not a technology-driven, productivity-driven phenomenon. It is a shortfall in the demand for what American workers can produce.” If either of these is true, where will the new jobs come from?