Fastest Pace for OC Home Market Since 2005

Steve Thomas of ReportsOnHousing.com’s latest study of the Orange County housing market shows the early 2012 home shopping season is a curious mix of rising buyer activity as the number of owners willing to test the market shrinks.

Snippets of the latest Thomas report, based on trends found in brokers’ MLS listings system, as of Feb. 16 …

-Demand grew in two weeks by 435 homes to 3,569. Last year, it wasn’t until March 31 that dealmaking hit this level.

-Thomas mixes his demand and supply math to create a “market time” measure that shows how long it would take to sell all homes on the market at the current pace of new escrows. This time, expected market time for Orange County is 2.1 months — lowest level since August 2005, or 78 months ago. It was 3.65 months a year ago.

-For homes priced below $500,000, demand is up 32% vs. last year with just a “blistering” — as Thomas called it — market time of 1.6 months.

-Active listing inventory actually fell 226 homes in the past two weeks to 7,597 — lowest at this time of year since 2005. “A drop in inventory during this time of year is completely unprecedented,” Thomas said. The number of homes for sale has fallen 29 percent in a year.

Thomas concludes: “For Orange County housing, the beginning of 2012 has proven to be remarkably robust. Demand, the number of new
pending sales over the prior month, has been steadily growing, but the last two weeks have been extraordinary. … This is more than just an encouraging start to 2012, it is a real sign of a much different housing market.”