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Forecast: Will the Orinda Housing Market Level off in 2017?
Home prices in and around Orinda, California have risen steadily over the last couple of years. The same is true for most of the Bay Area. But a recent forecast suggests the Orinda housing market could level off in 2017, with little or no change in house values. Prices might even decline slightly between now and next summer, according to analysts.
Is the Orinda Real Estate Market Leveling off?
The median home price in Orinda was around $1.4 million as of August 2016, according to multiple sources. That’s a gain of about 5% compared to the same time last year.
Prices have risen in recent years due to strong demand and limited inventory. Low mortgage rates and economic improvements have brought more buyers into the Orinda housing market, but there wasn’t enough inventory to satisfy demand. This put upward pressure on home prices.
Earlier this year, a report from Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage showed some softening in the East Bay luxury home market. Sales of high-end homes were down 10% compared to the previous year. With a median sales price of nearly $1.5 million, the Orinda housing market certainly qualifies as “high-end.” So perhaps what we’re seeing here is the early stages of a price plateau in the city.
Trends over the last few months support this notion. For instance, a recent report from Pacific Union showed that the average sale price in Orinda dropped from $1,670,410 in June 2016 to $1,548,280 in August.
According to Selma Hepp, a housing economist with Pacific Union:
“At the regional level, Alameda and Contra Costa counties both saw drops of about 20 percent in sales activity overall from last July, the largest deceases in the Bay Area.”
Forecast for 2017: Will Home Prices Decline?
According to a recent forecast for the Orinda housing market, we might see a downward trend in home prices over the coming months. A team of economists and analysts led by Dr. Svenja Gudell predicted that home prices in the area could essentially flatline over the coming months.
“Orinda home values have gone up 5.2% over the past year and Zillow predicts they will fall -0.2% within the next year,” the group stated in August.
This prediction mirrors the forecasts being issued for the Bay Area in general. The consensus among housing analysts is that we could see a cooling trend in the coming months, with prices leveling off to varying degrees across the Bay Area.
Read forecasts for neighboring cities:
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Disclaimer: This article includes predictions relating to the Orinda housing market in 2017. Such statements were made by third parties not associated with our company. We have compiled them here as an educational service to our readers.
