It is best to step back from all the narratives, opinions, and noise whirling around the housing market and focus on the trends.

The Orange County inventory has been on the rise and is starting to pick up steam, unlike last year when it continuously dropped through mid-April.

🌱🏡 Spotting 'green shoots'🌱of economic recovery in Orange County's real estate market!

After bouncing along a record-low number of homeowners willing to sell in the high mortgage rate ienvironment for over a year, there were more new sellers in January compared to 2023, the first “Green Shoot” sins rate soared higher in 2022.

Are you curious about the 2024 real estate market? Dive into my January Orange County Housing Market Update!

When will housing heat up in 2024? It depends on when the economy cools. When that occurs, rates will drop, and the housing market will heat up. No matter what, there will be more homeowners opting to sell their homes, pending sales will increase and surpass 2023 levels, and there will be more closed sales. How hot the housing market gets in 2024 depends upon when the overall economy downshifts.

For sellers who do not price their home carefully and must reduce their price down the road, they will likely net less upon closing.

As rates surge higher and affordability diminishes even more, smaller changes in the market times shift the market in favor of the buyer.

As rates have edged higher and higher this year, the housing market has been slowing down from it insane pace, and now homes are taking a little longer to sell.

Despite the high mortgage rate environment eroding home affordability, home values in Orange County have been on the rise after bottoming in December.

Housing’s Summer Market has arrived, and with it comes an increase in inventory, a slight decrease in demand, and a rise in the market time.

From YouTube to TikTok to the Backyard Barbecue, there are plenty of narratives regarding pending doom for housing that the underlying data does not support.

With the number of available homes to purchase at extremely low levels, there simply are too many buyers competing against each other despite high mortgage rates.

A Seller’s Market …when the Expected Market Time drops below 40 days, the housing market leans heavily in favor of sellers.

Before the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, and Silver Bank in March, mortgage rates were just above 7%. Since then, rates have fallen…

Low Supply and Multiple Bids

Market Times have dropped like a rock since the start of the year, squeezed by not enough sellers.

In OC, both Supply and Demand are decreasing; however, Supply is decreasing faster than Demand, leaving homes on the market for about 40 days. At the beginning of March, there were just 2,218 homes on the market. That number before Covid is usually around 5,100.

Lack of FOR-SALE Signs in the past few years, there has been a severe inventory crisis initially instigated by the pandemic and now due to the high mortgage rate environment. Since the pandemic, there have not been enough homes available, and 2023 is no different.

It’s all about the rates in the housing market, from the number of homeowners willing to sell to the volume of buyers able to afford to purchase.

After an extremely slow end to 2022, Buyers are returning to the housing market. Demand is already up sharply, and market times are plunging fast. It is important to keep in mind, demand is pretty shallow for this time of year, 23% less than last year and 38% below the 3-year average before Covid (2017-2019).

After an extremely slow end to 2022, buyers are returning to the housing market. Demand is already up sharply, and market times are plunging fast. It is important to keep in mind, demand is pretty shallow for this time of year, 23% less than last year and 38% below the 3-year average before Covid (2017-2019).