Not everything is bad news. The Orange County real estate market is as challenged as the rest of the country’s markets to be sure, but with the tax credit hangover finally at an end, market dynamics are beginning to come back into focus.
Market demand has decreased, as is typical this time of year; however, year over year demand is stronger for the first time since May of 2010. The listing inventory usually increases from January through August and has increased by 16% since the beginning of this year. This increase is significantly less than the 48% increase experienced during the same period last year, a sign that sellers realize that testing the market is no longer a viable strategy. The distressed inventory has decreased by 9% since January 2011. The decrease has been slow, and may be temporary. Never-the-less, the decrease in distressed inventory and the increase in investor purchases, has helped to slow home value depreciation.
Over the last two weeks our active inventory has decreased by only 57 homes to a total of 11,331 homes for sale. Demand, has decreased by 196 pending sales to a total of 2,864 pending sales. Our expected market time increased from 3.72 months of inventory two weeks ago, to 3.96 months of inventory today. The inventory of distressed properties, as a segment of the overall inventory, decreased by 56 homes and now totals 3,754. The number of foreclosed homes for sale, within the active distressed inventory increased by 4 homes, and now stands at 674 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…
Photo Credit: Xelcise
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