Market Conditions in Rancho Santa Margarita

The short sale condition in South Orange County continues to have a severe impact on our market and on prices. Until some of the Bank Owned and Short Sale inventory diminishes - we will continue to have pressure on prices.

That being said, you can see from the following graphes that the # of escrows is on the rise. Whether that is temporary seasonal buying, or an actual improvement in our market remains to be seen but I suspect the former.

If you break down the inventory by price, the number of distress sales is even more alarming in the lower price points:

Properties over $600,000 have significantly less Distress Sales, however there is much less movement in the higher price ranges.

Please Note the following : This represents properties in Rancho Santa Margarita according to the MLS (which includes Dove Canyon, Wagon Wheel, and Robinson Ranch). 'Distress Sales' are defined as those properties that are either Short Sales, Real Estate (Bank) Owned, Foreclosures, Auction, or Probate sales according to the MLS. All information gathered from SoCalMLS and deemed reliable but not guaranteed.