Good morning. This is Jeb Smith, Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage here in Huntington Beach and I’m back with your June 2019 Real Estate Market Report for Orange County, more specifically Huntington Beach. We’re now in the middle of the summer, which is normally our summer selling season if you will and things are a little bit different from from years past in the sense that the market has started to taper, starting to slow down a little bit. Over the last couple of years, if we go back year over year, the market has, at this point we’ve had low inventory, pretty high buyer demand, so things have moved pretty quickly and values have continued to rise.
This year is a little bit different in the sense that we are still seeing property come to the market. The number of properties coming to the market isn’t an outlier. It’s not any more properties than normal or any less properties than normal over the last couple of years. The year over year is pretty much the same. But what we are seeing is that properties are starting to sit longer. Days on the market are adding up, which tells us a couple of things. There’s less buyer demand out there looking, so there’s less people actually looking for property, which is one of the reasons that property is sitting on the market. And another reason is that properties are overpriced. So a lot of people have listed properties over the last couple of months and they’ve listed them higher than the fair market value of the property. In some cases those properties sell. But in most cases they don’t, and they continue to sit on the market, which as those properties sit, more property comes to the market, the inventory continues to build, which is what we’ve seen.
As a seller, the number one thing you can do in this market is price your home correctly from the start. Look at comparable sales, look at properties like yours that have sold and price it like those properties. Don’t try to go above and beyond what those properties have sold for. Otherwise you’re going to be in a similar position as to what these people are experiencing. Now, with regards to buyer demand, demand has slowed down. Rates have actually gone down quite a bit from where they have been over the last couple of months. And with that we haven’t really seen a huge pickup in buyer demand, unless you’re still in the lower price points. The lower price points are still selling pretty quickly with multiple offers. When I say that, I’m saying like under 700,000, those properties seem to be moving pretty quickly when they’re priced right. And as you move up in price and into the luxury market, homes are tending to sit a little bit longer.
The market is definitely slowing down from where it’s been over the last couple of months. We are not in a big correction stage or a correction stage really at all with regards to pricing. So we’re not seeing any big reductions in price with regards to, if your neighbor’s house sold for say 800,000, we’re not 5% below that or anything crazy like that. Now, the next home would sell for basically 800,000 and what you hear from a lot of buyers is that they’re watching the news and seeing that homes are sitting longer on the market. So they think that there’s some value to be had in that and they can offer much less than than what the property is listed for and actually get a deal. That’s not what I’m experiencing. And I don’t think that’s a good approach.
I think the market is somewhat stabilized, which is needed. And with that, buyers, if they’re looking to purchase and need to come in and make an offer based on what other homes have sold for. You’re not going to get a deal in this market. This is not that kind of market. It is still more or less a seller’s market. It’s not a strong seller’s market, but it is a seller’s market if you’re looking at the the days on market. Now as we continue into summer, longer in the summer, things are going to sit longer. You’re going to have more properties on the market. It’s probably going to turn to an even market where buyers and sellers are equal. Neither party really has the favor in the market if you will, but it’s still not going to be a huge buyer’s market where you can make low, lowball offers on properties and get deals accepted.
So I hope that’s helpful. I know it’s much of the same month over month, but things are starting to change now. The trends starting to change a little bit. I do expect as we get into the end of summer, we’re going to have more properties on the market than we’ve seen at some time. And that’s going to, as we get into fall, the buyer demand is going to continue to subside and inventory is probably going to come off a little bit too as we move into that market, it’s going to slow down even further. But at this point, I don’t see any huge things happening in the market. The economy is still strong, if you’re looking at the numbers there. So where we are right now, the market is it still a good time to be a seller, if you’re reasonable on your price. It’s still a good time to be a buyer, if you’re looking to buy something to hold for say, five plus years.
But if you do have questions, would love the opportunity to help. You can reach out to me directly at (714) 376-2711. If you want more information about me, check out my website Jeb Smith dot net or my other videos here on YouTube. As always, I appreciate you taking the time to watch and we’ll talk again soon. Have a great day. Bye-bye.
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