Fracture In the Market

Even though it is the hottest time of the year, the Spring Market, trends have emerged that confirm that the Orange County housing market is rapidly cooling. 

With demand falling and the housing inventory swiftly climbing, housing is slowing fast.  

Traveling on the freeway and hitting bumper-to-bumper snarled traffic can be particularly frustrating. The frustration grows as the brake lights seemingly stretch for miles ahead, and the speed decelerates even more. Suddenly, the traffic has slowed to a crawl, and it will take a lot longer for everyone to arrive at their destination. 

Similarly, the housing market had been moving along at a decent speed last year, and even hinted at speeding up early this year, but that has since changed. Fractures in the Orange County market have emerged. These cracks illustrate a rapidly cooling market. Sellers are losing their grip on calling the shots and must now be very precise in their pricing, or they risk not finding success and a further slowing of the market down the road. It is not a buyer’s market with plunging prices, but it is also not a hot seller’s market with rapidly rising prices. The market is moving, but not at the speed everyone expects in the spring. The latest trends highlight a cooling marketplace, moving at a much slower speed. 

Excerpt taken from an article by Steven Thomas.