Orange County Housing Update
Posted by Tony Leocadio Admin on Tuesday, May 25th, 2010 at 4:58pm.Housing demand is high in Orange County, and supply is reasonable given all the distressed properties, i.e. short sales and foreclosures.
The stimulus in the form of the tax credit is over and yet the pace of sales is brisk. The new listings coming on the market have found a steadiness to them we haven’t seen for a while. And guess what? Even though there are many short sales, there are equity sellers too.
WHAT WERE THE ACTUAL NUMBERS…They were pretty decent for March, the latest full month available. The total number of sales was 2,652 and includes single-family, condos and new houses. That number is up 33.5% from February and up 9% from March of ’09. The median price was $432,000, which was up 3.6% from February and up 12.2% from a year ago.
Keep in mind, however, that this increase reflects many investor sales, where the property was bought at foreclosure, heavily discounted and then after refurbishment, was relisted (after the 90 days) and sold at a higher price. So don’t let the 12% fool you into thinking prices are running back up, there is a logical explanation for some of the increase. In fact, 1,600 of the total number sold were under $500,000. Only 498 of the 2,652 were over $700,000.
Notices of Defaults (NOD's) were up 9% over February with 1,935, but that number is a 44.5% DECLINE over March of ’09. Foreclosures are up both month over month and year over year, but this is no great surprise when considering that some NOD’s have languished for years with no action and are now finally being foreclosed.
FINALLY, SOME ADDITIONAL NUMBERS TO WRAP UP THE MONTH. The first 22 business days of April showed sales volume already ahead of March with a total, so far, of 2,698 sales. Out of 83 zip codes in Orange County, 66 had gains in their respective median selling price. Only 7 of the 83 zip codes have a median sales price above 1 million dollars. Finally, 55 of the 83 zip codes had year-over-year sales gains in the first 22 days of April. If seeing is believing, than between jobs, income, and housing, there is finally a little (just a little) something to smile about.
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