Orange County Housing Market is Sizzling Hot!

The long awaited return of home equity and a real estate market equal to that of 2005 has arrived! Here’s the evidence to support this view. During the month of March, pended sales reached a 10-year high of 3,647, up 32 3% (nearly 800 more homes) over March, 2014 and closed sales reached 2,637 up 13.7% over 2014. Underlying this dramatic increase is the decrease of homes for sale across all markets in Orange County. The number of homes for sale has decreased from 2014 by 6.5% or 232 home. This is significant when compared to the dramatic increase in pended and closed sales.

The effect of the ratio between homes pended in March and the number of homes for sale has shrunk to a 1.5 month of supply of homes available. Here’s the question. Has there been a better time the last 10 years for homeowners to consider selling their home in Orange County? The answer is a resounding NO. Prices are stable, interest rates remain at all-time lows, consumer confidence in Orange County is excellent and the unemployment rate is steadily declining below 4 6%.

In the Orange County luxury home market (in excess of $1,000,000), the activity is quite different than a year ago. During March 2015, pended sales were up by a staggering 30.6%, closed sales up 33.6% and the homes sale increased by 12%. The result of the activity is the lowest amount of inventory of homes currently available in recent years, dating as far back as 2007. In summary, there has never been a more favorable time for sellers to consider selling their home in the last 10 years. Similarly, home shoppers are in a very good position to purchase at low interest rates with low down payment financing available and prices that are stable for the time being. If the current trend continues home prices should increase and may price some homebuyers out of the market, especially if interest rates increase.

There is no time like the present lf sellers are considering selling, take this into account as the Millennial Buyer (there are 84 million in this age group) enters the marketplace – a group that represents the largest home buying generation in history, surpassing the Baby Boomer.