WHAT WERE THE ACTUAL NUMBERS

The total number of sales for Orange County in November (the most recent complete month available) was, 2,257, which was down 1.8% from October.  That is a reasonable, seasonal, decline.  It was also down 10.7% from November 2009, which seems like a lot, but if you look at the year-to-date average number of sales of 2,545, there is only a -0.7% differential.  There were 1,407 single-family resale, 614 condos, and 236 new homes.  The last statistic on new homes is worth mentioning because it is a 27.6% increase.  Why does this matter?  Building demand leads to building permits, leads to hiring in construction, the one job sector that is most sluggish in So Cal.  In other words, demand for new homes is a sign of recovery.  The lead price range is still the entry level under $400,000, which had 938 sales.  The slowest price range was from $600,000 to $700,000 with only 196 sales.  The reason for this may be as simple as there is a shortage of properties in that price range because the over $700,000 bracket was fairly healthy with 438 sales.  Notices of Default were up slightly (4.5%) over October, but still down 16.1% from November '09.  Foreclosures are way down, but this is a goofy number as banks have made it clear they have stalled the process on many of their distressed properties.  The number of distressed properties on the market (short sale, or bank owned) remains steady at approximately 39%, which is lower than the peak of the recession, when that number was as high as 56%.