“Who can afford an Orange County home?” numerous people ask.

It’s no secret that house hunting in Orange County with even a decent-sized budget is not easy. Just look at CoreLogic’s Orange County report on full-year 2017 homebuying and see how challenging the market was to those shopping the lower end of the price spectrum.

Here are eight examples of the bargain-hunting hurdles …

1. $500,000 home? A rarity

Just 8,279 buyers — roughly 1-in-5 — paid under a half-million for an Orange County home last year. That’s the lowest level since 2007. And only seven Orange County ZIPs had a 2017 median price under $500,000. Total sales in those neighborhoods? 2,089 homes. In 2016, 16 ZIPs had medians under $500,000 with 4,897 sales. That’s a drop of 57 percent in 12 months.

2. Monthly pain grows

Calculate rising prices, down payments and mortgages rates and you get a typical 2017 monthly house payment of $3,189 — that’s before taxes, etc. It’s the fifth straight year of higher payments; the last time this cost index was higher was 2007.

3. Adjustable bets

In a year with slightly higher rates and pricier homes, 17 percent of Orange County mortgage users chose adjustable-rate deals, which commonly save borrowers money in the first few years. That’s the second-highest level of adjustable-rate borrowing since 2007. But to be fair, that’s still low: From 1988 to 2007, nearly half of buyers used adjustable loans.

’17 housing results: Beach ZIPs | North O.C. | South O.C. | Mid-county

4. Nowhere to hide

For the full year, Orange County’s median selling price for all residences was $685,000 — up 6.2 percent compared with 2016. That might seem like a modest gain, but it was hard to find a community with a bargain. Prices were up in all but six of 83 Orange County ZIP codes compared with the previous year.

5. Buyers balking

Countywide, 38,351 residences sold last year, rising just 1.3 percent from 2016. But sales increases weren’t widespread — purchases were up in only 41 of 83 Orange County ZIPs in the year. Guess where? In the 27 least expensive ZIP codes — median sales price at $610,000 and below — sales fell by 1.8 percent compared with 2016. In the 27 priciest ZIPs, sales rose 5.6 percent.

6. Condos no cure

The bargain hunter’s favorite option was tough to find … and pricier! Resales of existing condos fell 1.4 percent last year as condo’s share of all homes sales fell to a nine-year low. Adding to the pain: Median selling price was $475,000 — up 6.7 percent from 2016.

7. Size matters

Go small and you’ll pay up! The price of Orange County’s smallest homes — under 1,000 square feet — rose 8 percent last year, the biggest jump among all house sizes tracked. That appreciation was faster than the countywide gain of 6.2 percent. In the past five years, bargain hunters have pushed up prices of sub-1,000-square-foot homes by 83 percent vs. gains 57 percent for the overall market.

8. New isn’t helping

Yes, supply was boosted by the builders. Their sales rose 5.9 percent from 2016 to the highest level in 11 years. The 13 percent share of sales made by builders was the biggest slice of the market since 2007. But this is a pricey slice of house hunting: Median selling price for new homes was $848,500 — up 2.2 percent from 2016.

PS: So who’s buying?

Well, at the high end, the nine Orange County ZIP codes with median selling prices above $1 million for 2017 had sales of 2,501 homes. That’s up 4.8 percent in a year. Geographically speaking, though, buying was cooler in the county’s 16 beach-close ZIP codes: 6,143 homes sold in 2017, up only 1 percent vs. 2016.