Despite the tremendous focus on the “trade war,” the international slowdown, impeachment, Brexit, and stock The active listing inventory dropped by 148 homes in the past two-weeks, down 4%, and now totals 3,901, the lowest level since January 2018. Last year, there were 5,911 homes on the market, 2,010 more than today, or an extra 52%.
Demand, the number of pending sales over the prior month, decreased by 156 pending sales in the past two-weeks, down 10%, and now totals 1,434. Last year, there were 1,165 pending sales, 19% fewer than today.
The Expected Market Time for all of Orange County increased from 76 days to 82, a slight Seller’s Market (between 60 to 90 days). It was at 152 days last year, substantially slower than today.
For homes priced below $750,000, the market is a hot Seller’s Market (less than 60 days) with an expected market time of 57 days. This range represents 35% of the active inventory and 51% of demand. For homes priced between $750,000 and $1 million, the expected market time is 58 days, also a hot Seller’s Market. This range represents 17% of the active inventory and 24% of demand.
For homes priced between $1 million to $1.25 million, the expected market time is 84 days, a slight Seller’s Market.
For luxury homes priced between $1.25 million and $1.5 million, in the past two weeks, the Expected Market Time remained the same at 124 days. For homes priced between $1.5 million and $2 million, the Expected Market Time increased from 115 to 149 days. For luxury homes priced between $2 million and $4 million, the Expected Market Time decreased from 238 to 199 days. For luxury homes priced above $4 million, the Expected Market Time decreased from 686 to 605 days.
The luxury end, all homes above $1.25 million, accounts for 38% of the inventory and only 16% of demand.
Distressed homes, both short sales and foreclosures combined, made up only 1.2% of all listings and 1.6% of demand. There are only 18 foreclosures and 27 short sales available to purchase today in all of Orange County, 45 total distressed homes on the active market, down 4 from two-weeks ago. Last year there were 67 total distressed homes on the market, slightly more than today.
There were 2,469 closed residential resales in December, 40% more than December 2018’s 1768 closed sales. December marked a 10% increase compared to November 2019. The sales to list price ratio was 97.4% for all of Orange County. Foreclosures accounted for just 0.6% of all closed sales, and short sales accounted for 0.5%. That means that 98.9% of all sales were good ol’ fashioned sellers with equity.