January 2022 RSS Feed

Orange County Housing Report: Rising Rates Vs. No Inventory

There are two opposing economic forces impacting the housing market right now, rising mortgage rates and a record low supply of homes available to purchase.

Opposing Forces

There simply are not enough homes available for buyers and rising rates have not yet had an impact on the insanely hot housing market.

The supply chain problems have been well documented across the United States and around the globe. One of the hardest hit industries is new cars. The supply of available new cars has dwindled down to record lows. As a result, dealers are adding a “market adjustment fee,” a line-item cost above the MSRP. The fee ads anywhere from a few thousand dollars to as much as $20,000…

Unprecedented Start

Even with a rising mortgage interest rate environment, it is the hottest start to a year since tracking began in 2004 by a landslide.

Insanely Hot Seller’s Market

With a ridiculously record low supply of homes available to purchase matched with strong demand, the housing market is white hot.

The COVID-19 pandemic has severely disrupted the supply of goods and commodities. Initially, back in March 2020, there was a relentless run on toilet paper when people stood in long lines for hours as new shipments arrived. As the pandemic evolved, so did the impact on the supply of computer chips, which ultimately hit the automobile industry the hardest. Flash forward to today and new car lots are empty, there is a COVID premium…

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! 

Now, what does that mean for Orange County real estate?

First, let us look back at what happened in 2020 in terms of the inventory, demand, luxury properties, and the Expected Market Time.

Active Inventory

After starting the year with a record low number of available homes to purchase, the inventory did not increase like it typically does, and ultimately plunged to new record lows.

The year started off with an active inventory of 2,522 homes, the lowest level to start a year since tracking began in 2004. Typically, the inventory continuously climbs until peaking between July and August, but not this year. The inventory peaked on January 8th at 2,633 homes, dropped to 2,214 at the start of June, and then climbed…