Economists Predict Orange County 2010 Housing Prices
According to First American CoreLogic’s August index report, the median selling price for houses in Orange County was 7.9% less than it was in August 2008. If the distressed properties (short sale and bank-owned properties) are excluded, the decrease is 7.1%. However, First American sees an increase for the Orange County median selling price in 2010.
Here is First American’s 2010 prediction for Orange County housing prices as well as some others. The percentages listed are the amount that the median home price in Orange County is predicted to increase or decrease by next year. I have listed them in descending order from the most optimistic to the least optimistic forecast.
- UCLA Anderson Center–up 15.9% to 16.6%
- First American CoreLogic–up 9.5% (California prices up 7.9%, U.S. prices up 4.6%)
- Veros–up 2% by year-end September 2010 for their benchmark, which is single-family mid-priced homes
- Anil Puri of Cal State Fullerton–down during the first half of 2010, then flat or up 2% to 3%
Keep in mind that a predicted increase for the median price of all Orange County homes does not necessarily mean that the price for your home or a home that you want to buy is predicted to increase. Rather it could just mean that more homes on the high- or mid-level will sell during the next year that did this year.
Up to this point most of the homes selling in Orange County (or the nation for that matter) were on the low-end of the housing market. As more homes on the mid- and high-end of the market are sold, the overall median selling price will increase, but the selling price of many of the individual homes in the mid- and high-end might decrease from what the home would have sold for in the previous year.
For more information, see “Forecast sees 9.5% price gain for O.C. homes,” Jeff Collins, OC Register November 3, 2009