‘The real estate market is crashing‘ has been one of the most searched topics online since the market shifted nearly a year ago. We will discuss the current state of the market to help you decide whether or not the market crashes in the simplest terms possible.
The major news has been saying that the market is crashing, and they haven’t stopped telling that story, even though prices have been relatively flat for the last three or four months.
At the beginning of this year, buyers got back out into the market and started looking for properties—and it wasn’t just our clients. We wanted to share the facts about the current state of the Orange County real estate market and compare it to January 2023.
February 2023 Orange County Market Update
Inventory
- February 2023: 2305
- January 2023: 2536
Why are certain homes staying on the market? These listings are overpriced, not upgraded, or poorly taken care of.
Homes that are selling are not flying off the market like they did in 2021, but oftentimes they receive multiple offers
Demand
- February 2023: 1537
- January 2023: 939
Buyers are back in the market now that they have started to realize rates and prices are likely to stay flat. A lot of buyers are taking advantage of the products that are out there to make things more affordable.
Days on Market
- February 2023: 45 days
- January 2023: 81 days
Currently, there is an indication of a more competitive market, not a crash.
Our Prediction for 2023
It is going to be a relatively flat and boring year. We predict that prices will go up or down a couple of percent, but nothing revolutionary.
Are you willing to get into a home now and wait for rates to come down and then refinance? Are you banking on prices to come down, although fewer people are taking that approach? People are realizing that the current market is the new normal and deciding if they need to buy. These buyers frequently HAVE to buy, but we also have clients who choose to buy, particularly investors.
Just a reminder that this is what we are seeing in the Orange County market, but if you are in states like Idaho or Florida, where there was 50% growth, you may see a crash in prices.