If you’ve been following the Orange County housing market at all this year, you know that real estate has been on fire this year. Perhaps attributed to a better performing economy, home sales, average prices, and home-building has skyrocketed this year. While many see this to be troublesome as prices become unaffordable for some, the long-term benefits are clear. Yes, prices have gone up. However, more choices have become available, leading to a necessary increase in supply demanded. No matter how you look at it, when considering the importance of the housing market, we should be optimistic about the massive increase in new homes, and home supply. Here’s why:
New & More Homes are Necessary for the OC Economy
This year, we’ve seen a massive increase in the number of new jobs and stable economic growth that OC residents have experienced. Perhaps due to the influx of hiring by OC companies, more people have been looking to move to the area. In order to suffice for the much needed demand, new home builders have contributed to supply this growth, leading to more options for incoming home buyers.
New homes drive prices up, but leave options for new buyers
Yes, we know, the average price of an Orange County home has increased massively. Yet, this isn’t an entirely bad thing. Higher home prices mean a growing housing market, which translates to a better performing economy (all things considered). With new homes driving the Orange County housing trends, we can’t help but see an interesting but positive dynamic. On one hand, new homes can see prices upwards of $1 million. On the other hand, this frees up the supply of existing homes for prospective buyers that are looking for more moderately prices properties. The higher prices are also motivating more people to put their current homes up for sale, again, supplying the much needed OC housing demand.
New Homes are Selling Fast
Perhaps one of the influencers of the hot 2016 housing market is the new homes that are causing the increase in price. It should be noted that 4 of Orange County’s cities were named top-selling planned communities in the whole region for the first half of 2016. With statistics like these, and the overall benefit of a growing housing market, OC residents can rest assured that an expanding economy will ultimately catch up with increased home prices.