Orange County Housing Report: A Market Shift

As mortgage rates continue to rise, eventually the housing market will evolve from its current crazy pace to one that is much more tolerable.

The Coming Change

The sharp rise in mortgage rates from 2.65% during the first week of January to 3.09% today is just the beginning of rising rates.

Housing is in the midst of its own playoff run and has been a Hot Seller’s Market since June of last year, 9-months straight. It is the longest since the 16-month streak that ran from March 2012 through July 2013. What happened in the summer of 2013 to end the run? The market decelerated because of higher mortgage rates.

The Orange County active inventory in 2013 had reached its lowest level since…

Orange County Housing Report: More Homes Coming

In a couple of weeks spring will arrive and that is when more homeowners place their homes on the market than any other time of the year.

New FOR-SALE Signs

Nearly a third of all homes that enter the fray during the year come on the market over the course of the next three months.

Spring is not only a season of flower blossoms, butterflies, and new life, it is a time when more real estate activity occurs than any other time of the year. It is when the inventory rises and demand surges and peaks. Many mistaken the summer as the best time of the year for real estate, but it is second to spring. During the spring, more homes are listed, there are more new escrows, and there are more closed…

Orange County Housing Report: No Top in Sight

Many buyers wonder if they are overpaying as real estate prices continue to soar to record levels, yet that is not what the data shows.

Values Rising

The market velocity is extremely fast, and it is a Hot Seller’s Market where values are rising swiftly and multiple offers is the norm.

At the start of 2020, prior to any lockdown measures and the beginning of the pandemic in the United States, mortgage rates had dropped from 3.75% to 3.5%, an excellent level that had only been reached a few times since 2013. Throw in an increase in buyer demand due to the strongest demographic patch of prime first-time home buyers, 32-year-olds, in 26 years (which will continue for the next 4 years), it was no…

Orange County Housing Report:  Bidding War 

When a home hits the market, it is greeted with throngs of buyers and so many offers to purchase that a bidding war.

Multiple Offers

It is not uncommon for homes marketed FOR-SALE to procure 5, 10, 15, or even more offers to purchase within a few days of coming on the market.

There are a lot of reasons the market is exceptionally hot today. The leading factor is record low mortgage rates. The monthly and annual payment savings are jaw dropping and has been the catalyst to a tsunami of buyer interest. Another factor is the lack of available homes to purchase. There are fewer homes coming on the market right now because it is still the Winter Market. The vast majority of homeowners opt to “wait…

Orange County Housing Report: Boiling Over

Fierce demand, throngs of buyer tours, bidding wars, rapid appreciation, and limited available homes to purchase are all due to historically low rates.

Insatiable Demand

With a record low supply of homes available to purchase and staggering demand, the market is extremely hot. 

When a commodity drops to a price that is too good to pass up, everybody flocks to purchase. That is precisely what is occurring in housing. It is not that home values have plunged by 40%; instead, it is historically low mortgage rates that are the catalyst to surging demand. As a result, buyers are coming out in droves to purchase. It is too good to pass up. For a $700,000 mortgage at last year’s 3.6% fixed rate, the…

Orange County Housing Report: Blazing Beginning 

To go along with record low mortgage rates, it is the hottest start to a year since tracking began in 2004.

Hot Seller’s Market

With a record low supply of homes available to purchase and staggering demand, the market is extremely hot.

There is an imbalance in supply and demand. The supply of homes is at a record low and demand is off the charts. As a result, the market has been hot from day one of 2021. The only other time that occurred was back in 2013. What 2013 and 2021 have in common are record low mortgage rates. On January 3, 2013, mortgage rates were at 3.34%, slightly higher than the record low 3.31% achieved on November 21, 2012. On January 7, 2021, according to the Primary…

Orange County Housing Report: A 2021 Forecast

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!  Now, what does that mean for the 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 very few available homes to purchase, the inventory only grew slightly, plunging to unbelievably low levels during the second half of the year.

COVID-19 suppressed the inventory in Orange County. Many homeowners simply did not want to place their homes on the market amid a pandemic. From March through June, there were 4,655 fewer home placed on the market compared to the five-year average, 29% less. The Coronavirus lost its grip on…

Orange County Housing Report: Lock It In!

December 14, 2020

Mortgage rates may be at record lows, but they are poised to increase next year.

Interest Rates

The current 30-year mortgage rate is at 2.7%, a 14th record low since March

Today’s mortgage rates are at a record low and they offer the very best deal of the year. Soon, that deal will vanish, and rates will rise, which will impact monthly payments and affordability. Many think the Federal Reserve is in charge of setting mortgage rates, but that is not true. Instead, they set the short term fed funds rate, currently at zero. This rate affects automobile loans, credit card rates, and small business loans, also known as “short term debt.” Long term debt, or 30-year fixed mortgages,…

Orange County Housing Report:  Buyers’ Frustration

November 30, 2020

With an unrelenting lack of supply of homes FOR SALE, it will not be a buyer's market anytime soon. 

An Ongoing Seller’s Market

Housing has lined up in favor of sellers for years now and it is due to a low inventory of homes available to purchase coupled with strong demand boosted by historically low mortgage rates.

The active inventory has been at low levels ever since 2012 and a few times has dropped to unprecedented lows. From November 2012 through May 2013, and from December 2017 through February 2018, there were less than 4,000 homes available to purchase. It has only occurred twice since 2004, until this year. The Orange County active listing inventory dipped…

Orange County Housing Report:  

A Blazing November

With an extremely limited supply, this is the hottest November since 2012.

November 16, 2020

 Hot November Housing

With an Expected Market Time of 41 days, in the midst of November, the Orange County housing market is hotter than the Spring Markets of 2014 through 2019.

Just because everyone is sipping their favorite Starbucks latte from their recently unveiled holiday cups, does not mean that housing will slow this year. In fact, if a home is priced according to its Fair Market Value and is in great condition, it will procure multiple offers, a bidding war will ensue, and it will often sell for more than the asking price. Home values are on the rise. The difference this…