Market update provided by Teresa Mihelic of OCDreamhomes in Orange County, California.

This has been a very interesting year for our real estate market in Orange County. And this time of the year, we would have expected that the demand (the number of new pending sales) would have started to decline as we head into the holiday season.

Well, not this year.

It didn’t follow the “expected” cycle for the first half of the year (it constantly kept growing with a few step backs), and it has increased by 130 homes in the past 2 weeks and now totals 2974 pending sales.

To give some perspective, at this time of the year over the last few years, these were the numbers:

2008: 2,974 pending sales
2007: 1,180 pending sales
2006: 2,208 pending sales
2005: 3,058 pending sales

Interesting fact:

Demand is surpassing the prior 2 years, and looking like 2005 numbers. We will continue to see an influx of bank owned and short sale properties which will translate into more opportunity for the first time buyers and investors.  These are the hot properties and they are selling within days of coming on the market with multiple offers.  These properties will continue to be a drag on prices, which isn’t great news for sellers, but the buyers are jumping on the well priced properties.  This buyer activity is a very positive sign for our market.  With low interest rates and more affordable prices, there are some great opportunities for people who have patiently waited out the market.

With more homes in escrow, and less inventory, it is taking an average of 4.43 months for a home to sell. This is much better than compared to the beginning of the year (almost 15 months).  This market is so different from what we’ve seen the past 2 years…definitely more affordable, and attracting first time home buyers. And with rent prices going up due to demand, the investors are entering the market once again.

We are here to help.  Our website is www.ochomebuyer.com.

Click for more information about Orange County California Real Estate and Orange county home prices on HomeGain.

For more regional updates, click here.