As the final days of December are upon us, I’m ready for the 2015 Costa Mesa real estate year in review. The holidays are in full swing, and I have a few minutes to collect my thoughts to look back and see how my 2015 predictions held up this year.
It’s been an amazing year for us at
CostaMesaRealEstate.com, and an amazing year for Costa Mesa’s real estate as well. Prices were up, inventory improved, and the market locally enjoyed a very robust year.
Let’s look back on my 2015 predictions and see how we did with the 2015 Costa Mesa real estate year in review:
2015 Costa Mesa Real Estate Year In Review
1. Rising Rates – I thought we would see higher rates, and I was partially correct. The Fed did
raise rates last week. I did think they would have been more aggressive though. I did think Janet Yellen and crew would have raised the rates a couple of times, but I was wrong. I thought we would have been in the low 4.25% – 4.5% range, but we wound up being a little shy of those numbers.
2. Spring Inventory – The market always kicks into third and fourth gear after the
Superbowl, and I hit this trend right on the head. There was a much needed inventory bump in the early spring of 2015.
3. Late Summer Balance, Prices Flatline - Well, I missed this in a big way! I really though things would start to slow a bit. Instead, we did have a slowish month around August, but prices have actually increased since summer 2015. At this time, there are no signs pricing will slow, unless the fed’s raising rates actually have some impact.
4. Slower, and Traditional –Along the same lines here, I missed this one too. I guess my glass was half empty at the start of the year!! The market is still moving quickly, especially for the nice homes in good locations. However, homes that are overpriced or need significant work are still sitting on the market.
5. OMG, I Should Have Sold! – Well, since the market hasn’t changed that much yet, you still have time.
6. Nice Ones Go Fast – That always remains true- the nicely fixed up homes in the best locations will sell very quickly this spring. I got this right. There were multiple offers on the best homes.
7. Early Year, Committed Buyers – I got this one right too – there was a significant amount of committed buyers who knew exactly what they wanted and they acted quickly. The inventory problems in the early part of the year also prodded buyers to move quickly too.
8. Return of Other Mortgage Products – There were more programs and more self-employed programs available for the market. That trend should continue for better or worse.
9. Smart Underwater Mortgages Sell – This is one that I can’t really sum up – there was such a huge rise in prices that people who were underwater actually became whole again. So they only would have needed to sell if they wanted to. They could even have refinanced their mortgage since prices had such a big upswing.
10. Flip City – I thought we would see even more flipping, at record prices, and I got that one right. There were some crazy high sales, and I will say that some of the work done on some of the flips was actually high caliber work.
I’m getting ready for the holidays, and I hope you have enjoyed the 2015 Year In Review.
Colin Delaney is a Costa Mesa real estate expert and can be reached at
(714) 743-9882 or via
email.
