Mortgage Rates Down, Sales Slow?

 

March and April are typically our best selling and fastest moving real estate months in Costa Mesa. I have always said if you are going to sell a property, put it out there in April or March for the best result in Costa Mesa. Since the Federal Reserve’s announcement that they would not raise rates the remainder of the year, rates have lowered to about 4.0% for a 30 year fixed mortgage.

 

That should help the Costa Mesa real estate market, right? Well, maybe. It appears that sales are actually down now since the beginning of the year. Housing data cruncher CoreLogic says that sales are actually down about 14% in the market over a million dollars, and about 10% down on prices less than a million. The one point that the data does not show however, is that Costa Mesa homes are still seeing multiple offers at the entry level, which ranges between $600k- $950k depending on neighborhood.

 

I was recently quoted in the Orange County Register stating the same facts. I think they are looking for a bigger story than is there currently, but I do see a more dramatic slowdown in the upper tier of the Costa Mesa real estate market. Sales are certainly down by number, but so is the number of new homes coming on the market. The lack of inventory has been quite a problem now for the past 5-7 years. Perhaps that is the new norm for Costa Mesa real estate?

 

As I predicted in my January post, I do think we will finally see the market cool off and slow down a bit this year. The area that will probably suffer the most is the high end – I would expect those prices to come back down to earth.

 

Curious about your Costa Mesa real estate? Call/text Colin Delaney at (714) 743-9882 for any of your questions.