The Condo Conundrum: What the August 3 Orange County Housing Report Says About Our Market

The newest Orange County Housing Report from Steven Thomas at Reports on Housing, dated August 3, 2026, is titled The Condo Conundrum, and the name captures the story well. Our market has quietly split into two speeds. Detached homes are holding firm, while condominiums and townhomes are taking noticeably longer to sell. Step back and look at the whole county, though, and the picture is steady: the Expected Market Time, the number of days it would take to sell every listing at the current pace, barely moved and now sits at 101 days.

Inventory continues its slow summer climb. There are now 5,046 homes on the market, up 26 in the past two weeks, a gain of about 1 percent. That is almost identical to a year ago, when 5,071 homes were available, and it remains 34 percent below the pre COVID norm of 6,753 homes from 2017 to 2019. Supply is growing, but by any historical measure it is still on the lean side.

Demand finally ticked up. New pending sales over the prior month rose by 22 to 1,494, the first increase since the start of May. That is still softer than last year, when 1,604 homes were in escrow, roughly 7 percent higher, and it sits well below the pre COVID average of 2,630. Buyers are active, just more measured, and rates near 6.82 percent are a big part of why.

The two speed part is where it gets interesting. Detached homes carry an Expected Market Time of 93 days, actually a touch faster than the 98 days of a year ago. Attached homes sit at 114 days, up sharply from 90 days last year. That is a 21 day gap, roughly three extra weeks to sell a condo or townhome versus a house, and it has widened this year as rising HOA dues, higher insurance, and new lending reserve requirements coming in January 2027 weigh on the attached segment.

Values are still moving in the right direction for owners. The median detached home is $1,305,471, up 1.9 percent from a year ago, an increase of $23,746. The median attached home is $760,391, up 0.4 percent year over year. Detached is clearly the firmer of the two, but both segments are higher than they were last summer.

Underneath it all, this remains a healthy market. The sales to list price ratio held at 99.9 percent, so homes priced correctly are still fetching essentially full asking. Distressed activity is almost invisible, with just 10 short sales and foreclosures in the entire county, and 99.7 percent of June closings came from sellers with equity. June also produced 1,994 closed sales, up 9 percent from a year ago. This is a market that has segmented, not one that is struggling.

If you want to know what these numbers mean for your specific home or your search, I am always glad to talk it through. Call or text me anytime at 657.340.0418 and we will look at your situation together.