Homeowners Rush To Sell O.C. Homes

A wave of potential home sellers pushed the number of Orange County homes on the market to a 15-month high. 

Orange County housing inventory grew by the largest amount so far this year, adding an additional 418 homes in the past two weeks and now totals 11,235. The market has not breached the 11,000 mark since the beginning of April 2009. Last year at this time the inventory was at 8,895 homes, 2,340 fewer than today. The inventory has not stopped growing at all this year as more and more pent up homeowners have opted to place their homes on the market at unrealistic levels. The same media reports of median home price increases and year over year increases in the number of closed sales have fooled these pent up sellers into believing that the market has recovered and that it is a great time to take advantage of the market. It is true that agents have tons of buyers in the market that have written many unsuccessful offers thus far and homes that are priced well are receiving multiple offers. The market disconnect lies in the fact that inventory has been increasing on the backs of unrealistic homeowners who have placed their homes on the market at overpriced levels.

Here’s the recent data, as of last Thursday, for listings; deals pending; market time in months; last Thursday vs. 2 weeks ago, a year ago and 2 years ago (Note: k=thousand; m=million) …