One of our buyer clients asked whether the for sale inventory of homes in their range at South Orange County is good, and that's an important question.
Homebuyers here at Irvine and South Orange County, CA, simply don't have enough regular equity listings and REO homes to preview and buy.
Last year we had too many for sale listings relative to market. Times changed, and now we don't have enough homes for sale.
Investor buyers have made a serious buyer move and big impact on the market. Homebuyers are now struggling to find good equity and REO homes to buy (especially priced under $600k).
"Short listings" (some people call these "short sales" when we know that most are not actually for sale and won't sell, but rather they go away by foreclosure or loan mods) are clogging up the market and not real buyer opportunities.
Here's summary of inventory information for our local markets for the thirty days ending June 20, 2009.
Aliso Viejo, CA
- Homes sold during past 30 days - 70 homes
- Active now for sale - 126 homes (less than 3 months inventory)
- Balanced market would be 350 homes.
- Regular equity listings - 66 homes
- REO bank owned active - 5
- Short listings active - 61
Costa Mesa, CA
- Homes sold during past 30 days - 59 homes
- Active now for sale - 176 homes (less than 3 months inventory)
- Balanced market would be 295 homes
- Regular equity listings - 117 homes
- REO bank owned active - 9 homes
- Short listings active - 50 homes
Irvine, CA
- Homes sold during past 30 days - 190 homes
- Active now for sale - 569 homes (about 3 months inventory)
- Balanced market would be 845 homes for sale
- Regular equity listings - 431 homes
- REO bank owned active - 12 homes
- Short listings active - 134
Ladera Ranch, CA
- Homes sold during past 30 days - 43 homes
- Active now for sale - 129 homes (3 months inventory)
- Balanced market would be 215 homes for sale.
- Regular equity listings - 69 homes
- REO bank owned active - 3 homes
- Short listings active - 59
Laguna Niguel, CA
- Homes sold during past 30 days - 86 homes
- Active now for sale - 311 homes (less than 4 months inventory)
- Balanced market would be 430 homes for sale.
- Regular equity for sale listings - 214 homes
- REO bank owned active - 15 homes
- Short listings active - 96
Lake Forest, CA
- Homes sold during past 30 days - 98 homes
- Active now for sale - 160 homes (less than 2 months inventory)
- Balanced market would be 490 homes for sale.
- Regular equity listings - 90
- REO bank owned active - 10 homes
- Short listings active - 71
Mission Viejo, CA
- Homes sold during past 30 days - 97 homes
- Active now for sale - 281 homes (less than 3 months inventory)
- Balanced market would be 485 homes for sale.
- Regular equity listings - 179 homes
- REO bank owned active - 10 homes
- Short listings active - 96
Five months supply of homes is considered a balanced housing market. Less than 5 months is a seller's market, and more than 5 months is a buyers' market.
We have less than 3 months inventory of homes for sale in almost all of these markets at South OC, California, which is not enough relative to high buyer demand.
There are good current local buyer opportunities. Homebuyers need Realtor advocates to dig for information and help them about the local housing markets and those opportunities.
_______________________________________________
Harrison K. Long, Explore Group Properties, Coldwell Banker Previews, Irvine, CA.
Comments(4)