What parts of Oarnge County are soaking up the soaring demand and tight inventory that created — by one measure — the hottest housing market since 2005?
For example: Orange County homes take 59 fewer days to sell at the current buying pace vs. a year ago.
Analyst Steve Thomas’ signature housing measurement is “market time” — how many months it theoretically takes to sell all the inventory in the local MLS for-sale listings at the current pace of pending deals being made. As of April 26 — we see …
• Market time of 1.51 months vs. 1.63 months two weeks ago vs. 3.49 months a year ago vs. 2.45 months two years ago.
• Homes listed for under a million bucks have a market time of 1.23 months vs. 5.47 months for homes listed for more than $1 million.
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The latest Orange County home inventory report from Steve Thomas and ReportsOnHousing.com — data as of April 26 — includes these thoughts …
“Back in the early 2000’s, buyers zealously bought homes without regard to someday becoming sellers. Contrast that with the subsequent, unprecedented downturn, the housing market transitioned into a deep six year hibernation. The sleeping giant, housing, has awakened. The most fascinating aspect of this latest shift in the market is that absolutely nobody forecasted this major step in a housing recovery. The current statistics are staggering: Listing Inventory is at its lowest point since June 2005; Demand is at its highest level since June 2005; The expected market time is at its lowest level since June 2005; Closed sales have not been this low since October 2006 (May 2010 was at a similar level, but only temporary due to the expiration of the first time home buyer tax credit); The distressed property inventory is at lows not seen since September 2007.”
