Orange County has been seeing improvements in pricing and home selling strength recently and this will hopefully continue throughout 2012.  This being said, it is fairly obvious that beach side communities are seeing the first recovery and gains in pricing but the surrounding inner city neighborhoods should chase there improvements over the next year.

At ending 2011, many O.C. home prices were though to be around 2002-2003 levels.  This year is building off those levels and still flushing out a lot more buyers throughout southern California.  Mortgages and the economy can still provide large hurdles for new buyers, but some improvements with rates and government lending should give some new buyers traction this year.

Most home owners throughout Southern California have spent the last few months doing minor clean-ups and improvements as they get their homes appraised and mortgage’s refinanced due to the improved rates throughout the state.  Although many homes are still far from peak, pre-bubble prices, we’ll have to see how the values evolve over the next years as the recovery continues.  South Orange County is showing some of the highest numbers in the state for home valuation and stabilization in the market.  This trend looks to be spreading into other areas with smart infrastructure, planned property zones/communities, and quality construction.

It’ll be interesting to see how the presidential elections are going to affect the real estate market.  Depending on how the campaigns change and alter public view we could see changes happen quickly with real estate.