
The last six months seen some incredible housing activity. In Orange County, the housing market exploded with some segments of the market increasing 20% in value, bidding wars for homes, and a high percentage of cash sales. Then in May there were indications that the Federal Reserve might scale back it's Quantitative Easing (money creation) program. This cause mortgage rates to increase and then skyrocket in June. Simultaneously, home values increased due to low supply and the previously ultra low rates. These two factors should change the housing market dynamic, and I was looking for some indicators of this change. Some news articles this week gave some cues on these early indicators. So let's examine the number of purchase…[READ MORE]