OC HOUSING REPORT 5.22.17 – DECELERATION

The active listing inventory in Orange County increased by 236 homes, or 4%, in the past couple of weeks, and now totals 5,623. Last year, there were 6,267 homes on the market, 644 more than today.

There are 35% fewer homes on the market below $500,000 today compared to last year at this time and demand is down by 26%. Fewer and fewer homes and condominiums are now priced below $500,000. This price range is slowly disappearing.

Demand, the number of pending sales over the prior month, dropped by 3% in the past couple of weeks, shedding 98 pending sales and now totals 2,914 , dropping below 3,000 a bit earlier than the past couple of years. The average pending price is $859,899.

The average list price for all of Orange County remained at $1.6 million. This number is high due to the mix of homes in the luxury ranges that sit on the market and do not move as quickly as the lower end.

For homes priced below $750,000, the market is HOT with an expected market time of just 37 days. This range represents 38% of the active inventory and 60% of demand.

For homes priced between $750,000 and $1 million, the expected market time is 55 days, a hot seller’s market (less than 60 days). This range represents 19% of the active inventory and 20% of demand.

For homes priced between $1 million to $1.25 million, the expected market time is at 65 days, a seller’s market.

For luxury homes priced between $1.25 million and $1.5 million, the expected market time increased from 89 to 90 days. For homes priced between $1.5 million to $2 million, the expected market time increased from 134 to 162 days. For luxury homes priced above $2 million, the expected market time increased from 198 to 235 days.

The luxury end, all homes above $1.25 million, accounts for 35% of the inventory and only 12% of demand.

The expected market time for all homes in Orange County increased from 54 days to 58 in the past couple of weeks, a solid seller’s market (less than 60 days), but about to transition into a normal seller’s market (60 to 90 days). From here, we can expect the market time to slowly rise throughout the Spring and Summer Markets, moving from a deep seller’s market to a slight seller’s market.

Distressed homes, both short sales and foreclosures combined, make up only 1.2% of all listings and 2.5% of demand. There are only 31 foreclosures and 37 short sales available to purchase today in all of Orange County, that’s 68 total distressed homes on the active market, 13 fewer than two weeks ago. Last year there were 141 total distressed sales, 107% more; that’s more than double.

There were 2,663 closed sales in April, a 5% decrease over March 2017 and a 3% decrease from April 2016. The sales to list price ratio was 98.6% for all of Orange County. Foreclosures accounted for just 0.8% of all closed sales and short sales accounted for 1.4%. That means that nearly 98% of all sales were good ol’ fashioned equity sellers.