There are two audiences with deep concerns over home prices and home sales. Those who monitor home prices are typically those with an eye on their investment. They bought their home, or a second home in which they do not reside, anticipating that their equity would rise enough in a given period to provide a sufficient return on their investment.

For those people, prices do not have any real significance until they attempt to sell or tap into the equity via refinancing.

Those watching home sales, on the other hand, have a more urgent need to see improvement in the real estate landscape for they are ready to recognize the return on their investment, whatever that may be, or to take the least painful blow possible, depending on their situation.

Unfortunately for the first group, the home price watchers, the news is not good. According to the National Assn. of Realtors (NAR), home prices could continue to drop well into 2013. Part of the reason the NAR is so bearish on home prices is the continued high unemployment level. Jobs are needed to provide the incomes to afford homes and when the jobs are not being created, there is less demand for housing. This creates downward pressure on prices.

This scenario is supported by a drop in the number of apartment vacancies and an anticipated increase in apartment rents of approximately 3.5% to 5.1%, according to the NAR.

In other words, some of the folks who can and should be buying are renting instead.

To many in real estate, renting never makes sense and it makes even less sense now, when home prices have dropped like a stone and mortgage interest rates are less than half of what they were 24 years ago, when they were averaging over 11%. But in this market, making sense is not something we can count on.

So just how bad is the news? That depends on where you want to buy or sell. The latest figures from San Diego-based DataQuick comparing May 2011 with May 2010, show that the desirable eight ZIP codes comprising Irvine are faring a bit worse than we reported just a few weeks ago. Then, there were five ZIPs showing home price declines since the same period last year. Today, six are down and they are down an average of 10%. The two healthy ZIP codes, 92612 and 92614, are up 7% and 2% respectively.

For condominiums in Irvine, the news is about the same, though there are some interesting twists. Condo prices are down in six of eight ZIP codes, also around 10% but they are not the same six ZIPs as single family homes. In ZIP code 92606, for example, home prices are down 7% but up 25% for condos. That condo sales are up is not unexpected, but the swing in this desirable area is unusual.

The news is not so bad if you live in a community that has the word “beach” attached, with the exception of Huntington Beach, where home prices in three of the four ZIPs have dropped an average of 7.5%. In Laguna Beach prices vs. May 2010 are up 12% and they’re up in two of the three ZIP codes for Newport Beach. Capistrano Beach home prices are up 14% vs. May, 2010. Data for Seal Beach is unchanged and Sunset Beach was not reported.

Typical, though — those folks at the beach always seem to have it better.

STEVE SMITH is a Costa Mesa resident and a freelance writer. Send story ideas to smi161@aol.com.