The Orange County housing market has officially cooled down due to fewer overall pending sales. It is not an “ice cold” market just yet but it has cooled significantly in the last two weeks due to active inventory decreasing.
WHAT DOES A “COOLED” HOUSING MARKET MEAN?
Thankfully, this drop in inventory has not effected the overall market. Interest rates are still low which has increased buyer demand. Affordability has improved considerably because of these lower rates. However, an issue that has surfaced from these lower interest rates is that they have not changed the amount of pending deals. There are still not enough buyers in the current market to catch up with the amount of inventory.
Even though there have been more homes for sale compared to 2018, demand has remained muted for a straight 14 months. Right now the Expected Market Time is 92 days compared to 80 days last year and June 2019’s closed sales are down 6% from last year. This may not seem like a huge drop but when you compare these numbers from 2017, it becomes an even higher drop.
The main take away from Orange County’s current real estate trends is that despite the improvement in affordability due to lower mortgage rates, buyer demand remains muted which has “cooled” the market. Lower interest rates have helped, but they have not helped with overall demand.
WHAT SHOULD SELLERS EXPECT FROM THE MARKET FOR THE REMAINDER OF 2019?
Sellers should expect fewer closed sales. One way sellers can jump ahead of the competition is to price their homes accurately at the beginning and by also avoiding price reductions throughout the process. Only time will tell if this “cooling” trend continues for the rest of this year.
Sari & Team have tools that we can implement in order to position a property correctly and get it ready to sell. Our experience working in Orange County over the years in a constantly changing market has given us a competitive edge in helping our clients. For more information on the current state of the Orange County housing market, please contact Sari Ward at (949) 558-3100 or email at [email protected].