Lake Forest Market Conditions - Mid May Report

The activity level in Lake Forest is finally picking up! Right now, we have 114 properties in escrow and 49 that have closed in the last 30 days. Assuming that the 114 is about 6 weeks of activity, the 332 active listings represents an approximate 4 month inventory. Or using the 49 closings, it could be 6.5 months. Either way, it's much better than it has been for quite a while.

The troubled properties (short sales and foreclosures) still make up about 58% of the active properties and 68% of the current escrows. Of the 49 closings in the past 30 days, 32 of them were either short sales or foreclosed.

The pricing now begins at $135,000 for a bank-owned one bedroom condo, and goes up to $1.8 million for a custom lake front home. There are currently 2 single family houses priced at $399,900 and one other in a "hold" status. The first "under $400,000" sale of a single family home since November 2003 happened last month whan a bank-owned home that was listed for $414,000 closed at $395,000.

I specialize in Lake Forest, but work the entire Orange County area, and have identified and described several other well-priced properties on my other blog at (LiveLakeForest.com)  If you have been waiting for some good buying opportunities, please contact me as soon as possible to help you find the right one!