Orange County Register

As of last Wednesday, there were 461 active homes for sale in Irvine, with an expected market time of 2.06 months, according to a biweekly report done by Steven Thomas of Altera Real Estate. That’s a benchmark tracking how many months it theoretically takes to sell all the inventory in the local MLS for-sale listings at the current pace of pending deals being made.

That number is down compared to two weeks ago, when there were also 479 active homes for sale in Irvine.

One year ago, the expected market time was 5.11 months, and two years ago, the expected market time was a whopping 11.27 months.

Here’s Thomas’ take on these expected seasonal doldrums:

The distractions of the holiday have finally seeped into the Orange County housing market.  Demand, the number of new pending sales over the prior month, dropped by 6%, 203 homes, and now totals 3,038… Cyclically demand drops for the rest of the year and through the first few weeks of the New Year.  We can expect more of the same this year, but maybe not as deep as prior years due to so many buyers waiting for the right home to hit the market.  But, not as many homes will hit the market, waiting, instead, for the end of the holidays… The active listing inventory will continue its slow descent though the end of the year.  The Spring market, which actually begins for Orange County after the Super Bowl, is typically the best time to sell.  Demand will increase, but so will the number of homes hitting the market.  There will still be plenty of competition from distressed properties, which will keep values in check throughout 2010.  We can also expect a return of the discretionary homeowner for the fourth year in a row, only selling their home if they truly are motivated to sell.

The average list price for Irvine homes is currently $1.1 million, and 27.1 % of listings are distressed, meaning they are foreclosures or short sales.

Recently reported:

• Irvine home sales up 30% vs. a year ago
• Welcome to the dollhouse
• The biggest home seller mistakes
• Check out Irvine’s most viewed homes for sale
• Cosmetically enhanced home listing of the week
• Play in new park at your own risk
• Readers’ home prediction was (almost) right

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.