Boker's Blog

Glass Half Full Perspective

ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER BUSINESS SECTION 7/31/2011
Jonathan Lansner
“O.C. Distressed Inventory at Lowest Level this Year”
“Orange County’s inventory of foreclosures and shorta sales is at its lowest level of the year, representing only 33% of the market. Word of “shadow inventory” has been spreading. Shadow inventory is a wave of distressed homes that will hit the market later on. Instead the market “will go up or down only slightly and will be slow to change.”

ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER BUSINESS SECTION 7/28/11
Jonathan Lansner
“Beach Towns Suffer Least in Housing Slump”
According to DataQuick beach cities are suffering the least for the first half of 2011 compared to a year ago.

“2,632 homes sold in ocean-close communities in the most recent period, -1% from a year ago. Median selling price? $650,500 in these 17 ZIPs. Median price change was -5.1% vs. a year ago.”

ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER BUSINESS SECTION 7/27/2011
Jonathan Lansner
“Home Prices Rise for the Second Straight Month”
“Indexes show first back-to-back increases for region since last summer.” According to the Standard and Poor’s/Case-Shiller indexes, the Orange County area has experienced the first “back-to-back uptick in month-to-month results since July 2010.

ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER BUSINESS SECTION 7/24/2011
Marilyn Kalfus
“Local, State Defaults at Lowest Level since 2007”
“The number of California and Orange County homes entering the foreclosure process fell to the lowest level in four years, though it is unclear if that’s because the market is improving OR because lenders are taking longer to seize homes from owners who fail to pay the mortgage.”

The number of homes taken from homeowners was at the second-lowest level in 3 ½ years.

Glass Half Empty Perspective

ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER BUSINESS SECTION 7/31/2011
Jonathan Lansner
“Housing Falters without Tax Break”
According to DataQuick in an analysis of Orange County home buying, the first half of 2011 experienced a 1.6% decrease in median selling price. Total Orange County Sales were down 8.3% compared to a year ago.

Jonathan Lansner says that it is a “widespread slump. 64 of Orange County’s 83 ZIP codes saw declines in their respective median selling price… Only one OC Zip code (Newport Beach, 92660) saw prices and sales volume increase in the past year.”

ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER BUSINESS SECTION 7/23/2011
Jonathan Lansner
“Home Sales Drop for Early July”
“Prices are still weak as July started slowly for Orange County housing.” Median price compared to one year ago has dropped 2.5% and total sales in Orange County are down 14.4% versus one year ago.

The median selling price of $435,000 is 33% below the peak of June 2007, $645,000.