It appears that we may be approaching a peak in inventory levels for this year.
During the last two weeks, the inventory increased by 319 homes for sale – the smallest increase in the past three and a half months. Demand, too, appears to be returning to a normal pattern with an increase of 102 pending sales over the last 30 days. Short sales (when a home is sold for less than is owed on it) remain the Achilles heal of the Orange County and national housing market. It will take approximately 6 months to work through the Orange County short sale inventory at the current average sales closure rate of 600 per month. Lenders have not improved their short sale processes, and appear to have little incentive to do so. The current situation allows for the lenders to retain a greater amount of control over the real estate market and pricing. This can be to their benefit when considering the backlog of distressed inventory they are holding.
Our expected market time has decreased slightly from 3.91 months of inventory two weeks ago to 3.84 months of inventory today. The inventory of distressed properties, as a segment of the overall inventory, has increased by 118 homes to a total of 3,575. The number of foreclosed homes for sale within the active distressed inventory increased by 40 homes, and now stands at 653 for all price ranges in all of Orange County.
For more in depth analysis of the current Orange County housing market please continue on to the full Orange County Housing Report…
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