November Housing Heat Wave
With an Expected Market Time of only 23 days, the Orange County housing market is hotter than it has ever been for this time of the year.
Everyone put on their favorite pair of shorts, grabbed their flip flops, applied sunscreen, and enjoyed the usual summer activities of sunny Southern California. From the beach, to the pool, to mountain hikes, there is plenty to do when the temperature eclipses 90 degrees. Yet, it is not the middle of summer. It is a heatwave in the middle of November, just a couple of weeks until Thanksgiving. Occasionally, Mother Nature cooks up summer weather at this time of year.
Housing has been dealing with an unrelenting heat wave of its own since last year. After coming out of the COVID lockdown protocols, the inventory dropped, demand soared, and housing reached record breaking temperatures from July through the end of 2020. It never cooled. In fact, the 37-day Expected Market Time reached in December (the time between hammering in the FOR-SALE sign to opening escrow) was the hottest level of the year for Orange County. In 2021, temperatures climbed to levels never seen before, housing grew hotter, and the market time dove to 21 days on April 1st, the hottest reading since tracking began in 2004. Today’s 23-day Expected Market Time is the lowest for mid-November by far, and not much different than April. The heat wave is intense and will continue through the end of 2021, setting up a remarkably hot start to 2022, much hotter than this year’s start.
Excerpt taken from an article by Steven Thomas.
