It’s no secret that throughout most of the country, the continuing shortfall of homes for sale—the U.S. inventory—has continued to strengthen real estate values in 2023. With the total U.S. ‘active inventory’ (the combined total of existing plus new housing units) shrinking a further 6.4% from last July’s levels, it would be noteworthy if that hadn’t had the inevitable effect on Costa Mesa real estate as well.

New construction plays a sizable role in how housing performs. Whereas many owners of existing homes still hesitate to list their properties because a sale would mean losing their current home loan interest rates, first-time buyers of newly built houses have no such concerns. So any decline in the rate of new construction is more likely…

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An article in last Wednesday’s U.S. News headlined a thought-provoking question: is an ARM a Good Idea in 2023? Now that mortgage rates are significantly higher than they were even only a few months ago, a question that might then have been answered with an almost automatic ‘no!’ has new relevance. Buyers daunted by the prospect of budget-challenging monthly payments may be penciling in the difference, seeing an attractive answer—but then unsure of whether the risk-reward formulations make Costa Mesa ARMs a prudent choice.

The article discussed the tradeoffs which it summarized in brief:

  • If there is a fixed period, how long does it last?
  • How often does the rate adjust?
  • What is the limit to how much the rate (and monthly payment)…

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“If mortgage rates weren’t enough,” began last week’s CNBC.com commentary, “it was even harder to qualify for a mortgage in July…” That dour introduction was followed by a series of Eeyore-worthy observations. Lest Costa Mesa house hunters—many of whom will soon be among home loan seekers—take the discouraging news as catastrophic, it’s only fair to point out that the national outlets like CNBC are describing U.S. markets as a whole rather than Costa Mesa itself. Still, the generalizations are such that many American markets do face strong fiscal headwinds.

Some of the noteworthy details:

  • The Mortgage Bankers Association gauged that in July, it was “harder…to qualify for a mortgage…than it has been in a decade.”
  • “Credit availability”…

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“If you’re thinking about buying or selling a house right now, you’re not alone.”

That was the opening declaration in last Tuesday’s essay from the New York Times best-selling author and host of “The Rachel Cruze Show.” Her insights into personal finance and “fun, practical ways to take control of your money” reach millions of listeners who tune in weekly.

Although she prefaced last week’s market prognostication with the welcome caveat that it’s never a good idea to let a market prediction control housing decisions, checking out the experts can be useful for providing an idea of what U.S. and Costa Mesa “sellers and buyers might expect” in the coming months.

Ms. Cruze directly addressed 18 questions: here are some that Costa Mesa sellers and…

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For past generations, the magic summoned up by the phrase “Million-Dollar!” would be hard to exaggerate—so the idea of Costa Mesa million-dollar homes would have represented gawk-worthy artifacts of success. Even though today, “million-dollar” this and that are attached to everyday news items, last week’s announcement from Redfin’s Economic Research unit may have come as something of a surprise. The news was short and sweet:

“Nearly one in 10 U.S. homes are worth $1,000,000 or more.”

The rising proportion of million-dollar properties may be due in part to a weakening U.S. dollar, but by no means is that the whole (or most interesting) story. Some details:

  • 55 of the 99 most populous metros have seen a rise in million-dollar and…

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Last Thursday, under the headline “The Housing Recession is Over…,” Costa Mesa real estate observers found a MarketWatch report laden with positive indicators. All of them were, however, less than earth-shaking in scale. The optimism-tinged phrases like ‘ticked up,’ ‘inched up,’ and ‘small positive increase’ were balanced by negative results that were equally minuscule—‘falling only slightly,’ was one of those.

Even so, it was hard not to applaud the overall message—a fairly convincing gathering of June month-end numbers that look as if real estate industry momentum is stirring. The springtime doldrums seem to be over—but only ‘just.'

Here are MW’s particulars:

  • Pending home sales advanced a bit on a month-to-month basis—the first…

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