by Scot Campbell – 2/19/2012 Source: ReportsOnHousing.com
According research by Steve Thomas at Reports On Housing, the active inventory for Orange County homes is falling dramatically for both Standard Sales and Distressed Properties:
The active listing inventory is also at its lowest point for this time of year dating back to 2005.
With less inventory and increased demand, the expected market time for Orange County has dropped to 2.1 months. That’s the lowest level since August 2005, 78 months ago. Change is afoot. A drop in inventory during this time of year is completely unprecedented. Typically homes are coming on the market faster than they are going into escrow; thus, the active inventory increases. Not this year. The current active listing inventory shed 226 homes in the past two weeks and now totals 7,597. That’s 3,081 fewer than last year when the inventory totaled 10,678. Thus far nobody is really reporting on all of the activity; so, for the most part, homeowners have been shielded from the fact that the market is extremely hot.
The decrease in the availability of Distressed Homes is a surprise to many homebuyers who have been reading for months about foreclosure properties and short sales, but as Thomas points out… “The distressed inventory continues to drop like a rock”:
In Orange County, the active distressed inventory, both short sales and foreclosures combined, has dropped by 644 homes so far in 2012. That’s 20% in just six weeks. Currently, the distressed inventory represents 33% of the active inventory. In the past two weeks, the foreclosure inventory dropped by 57 homes and now totals 489, the lowest level since May 2010. Foreclosures are the hottest segment of the current market. Just about every buyer wants to purchase a foreclosure, yet there are only 489 in all of Orange County, just 6% of the total inventory. The expected market time is .95 months, a deep sellers market. The short sale inventory decreased by 137 homes in the past two weeks and now totals 2,038, the lowest level since October 2009. The expected market time dropped to 1.4 months, also a deep sellers market. Yes, short sales may take a very long time to put together with the coordination of the lender(s) approval, the removal of HOA and/or tax liens, and bringing property taxes current. With so few homes on the market, short sales are being swept up almost as fast as they hit the market.
I will be watching reports by Thomas, Dataquick, and MLS data to see if these trends continue. More info soon!
For questions about buying and selling real estate in Orange County, contact Scot Campbell. He is the President of The Scot Campbell TEAM at Coldwell Banker-Campbell Realtors in Huntington Beach, CA. He has been a licensed broker for over 21 years and has brokered over 1000 homes and just about every type of transaction imaginable. Read his profile and client reviews at www.ScotCampbell.com He can be reached at 714-960-0700 at the office, 714-336-0394 on his mobile number or via email at Scot.Campbell@ColdwellBanker.com
