Orange County Housing Report:

F A L L  M A R K E T  E X P E C T A T I O N S

R A T E S  H A V E  S L O W L Y  M A D E   T H E I R  W A Y  F R O M  J U S T  O V E R  7 %  F O R  T H E  F I R S T  C O U P L E  O F  M O N T H S  O F  T H E  Y E A R  T O  N E A R L Y  6 . 2 5 %  T O D A Y , 

P A V I N G  T H E  W A Y  F O R  A  B U M P I N  B U Y E R  D E M A N D .

Anyone who has taken up running knows that initially it is hard to run that far. A great strategy is to simply run a mile consistently for a couple of weeks, and then slowly ramp up the mileage. Going from a mile to a mile-and-a-half, from a mile-and-a-half to two miles, and then from two miles to three miles over the course of many weeks allows the body to adjust to the increasing demands of longer distance workouts. The consistency and slow progression build endurance, allowing a novice runner to run farther and farther distances. This approach is not instant; it does not happen overnight. Instead, over time, the new runner slowly improves. Mortgage rates have reached their lowest level of the year, nearly 6.25%. It too did not happen overnight. They started the year at just above 7% and eclipsed 7.25% in mid January. Mortgage rates tend to fluctuate from week to week, yet the trend has been for rates to improve slowly from month to month. They have been consistently below 7% since the end of May. They dropped below 6.75% at the start of August, and then dropped below 6.5% at the beginning of September. With weaker job numbers, they have settled close to 6.25%. Over time, mortgage rates have slowly improved. These lower mortgage rates have arrived just as the housing market transitioned from the Summer Market to the Autumn Market. In real estate, the Autumn Market spans from the beginning of September, with the last hurrah of summer, Labor Day, and runs through mid November, the week before Thanksgiving. Typically, in Orange County, this is the time of year when the supply of available homes slowly decreases, along with a corresponding slow decline in buyer demand. With both supply and demand falling at a similar pace, the Expected Market Time does not change much.

Excerpt taken from Stephen Thomas