Uncertainty building over direction of O.C. housing
Some numbers reinforce the idea of a slowing market while others suggest price resilience.
By HANG NGUYEN
The Orange County Register
ocregister.com
Like anyone interested in buying or selling an O.C. home in this cooler market, Peter Lee asks, "What should I do?"
Lee owns a four-bedroom home in Irvine that he thinks is worth about $750,000. He wants to sell and move to Northern California to be closer to his children in Moraga.
But he has noticed that the local housing market has slowed down; shoppers are holding off their purchases, and sellers are discounting prices.
So he's not sure if he should put off a sale in hopes that the market might improve. Or perhaps he should put up a for-sale sign now because this is the best the market will be in the next few years if the slowdown continues or worsens.
"Luckily, I'm not under any time pressure (to sell), so I will just wait and see," he said.
The latest statistics on the housing market, released this week, don't clarify which way the market is heading. Some statistics show a continuing slowdown. Other data suggest that homebuying activity is picking up. Here's the evidence on both sides:
COOLING MARKET
Builders and real-estate agents sold 19 percent fewer homes in the four weeks ending Nov. 15 vs. a year ago, according to statistics from market tracker DataQuick. During the four-week period, 3,874 homes were sold.
The pullback in demand appears widespread, affecting not only cheaper homes, including condos, but also more pricey abodes, such as new residences. Sales dropped 16 percent for resales of detached homes, 25 percent for condos and 21 percent for new homes.
Detached homes are sitting on the market longer before they're sold, according to data from First Team Real Estate. Their average time on the market jumped from 49 days on Oct. 31 to 53 days on Tuesday.
PICKING UP
The O.C. median home price for the four-week period ending Nov. 15 was $540,000, up 22 percent from a year ago.
While that value is still $3,000 below the peak price in August, it's up $8,000 from the median for homes sold in October, DataQuick reports.
The supply of homes for sale continues to dip. As of Tuesday, 10,040 detached homes were for sale, a 6 percent drop from Oct. 31, according to First Team. The number of condos on the market fell 3 percent in the same time to 7,346 units.
Buyers enticed by low mortgage rates are part of the reason the supply of homes for sale is decreasing, some real-estate agents say.
Mortgage rates have fallen every week except one since mid-October. The average O.C. 30-year fixed mortgage for a borrower paying two discount points was 5.247 percent on Nov. 18, according to National Financial News Services. |
