The real estate market around Orange County is similar to ours in San Diego, and they are feeling the seasonal surge like we are currently. Mortgage rates under 4% are certainly contributing to the fever – live it up while you can!
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/market-652959-year-thomas.html
An excerpt:
January buying was slow, too. Then all of a sudden – with no major change in pricing or mortgage rates or the broader economy – shoppers stopped shopping and started making offers.
“I’d like to know what buyers are thinking. Why did they start pulling the trigger now?” Thomas says. “It’s like we’ve gone from 5 miles per hour to 65 in a very short distance.”
Thus, the big question for Orange County’s housing market has gone from “When will it wake up?” to “How long can this surge last?”
Will February prove to be just a short-lived, unexpected rush of buyers wanting to start the year in a new home? Did folks get overly anxious about the possibility of potentially higher home prices or costlier mortgages later this year?
Or is this the market breakout where improved housing fundamentals, most notably a healthy job market, nudged buyers to act? Is there a growing flock that’s tired of renting or having roommates – parents or otherwise – and have joined the traditional hunt for home ownership?
I think part of it is just demographics, (millennials coming of age).
It may stay busy for several years.
Maybe some of these “shoppers turned buyers” were just waiting for their tax refunds?
Buyers from mainland China ready to pay cash.
I want to see actual solds/pendings or this is just REA propaganda.
He’s got stats in the article. You’re not talking to me, are you?
Of course not, Jim! Skeptical about claims that run counter to other recent sources, but next time I’ll read the article before commenting… 🙂
Thomas is about the only agent in Cali that has been publishing stats for an extended amount of time – the last few years at least. We are a little behind last year in NSDCC but there is a lot of scurring around in the marketplace.
I closed today on my first property in Orange County. I am a millennial and can definitely confirm that my peers are beginning to look at buying. Many now have good jobs and are tired of renting and watching others make the leap to home ownership. Many of them thought they would have to wait until someone willed them money to get into a property in OC. But loan interest rates coupled with 3.5% FHA and conventional financing is changing that. Many are now getting married and the joint incomes make owning a home much more feasible. Watch millennial marriage rates rise and home ownership will follow extremely closely!