HGAR Officials Brief Orange County Members on Market and Legal Trends

GOSHEN—Officers and staff of the Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors briefed Orange County Realtor members on housing market trends, legal issues, as well as insights into the association’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion initiatives on March 1.

The well-attended session held at HGAR’s Goshen regional office was hosted by HGAR Orange County Regional Director Carole McCann and featured welcoming remarks by HGAR President-Elect Vlora Sedjil, along with presentations by HGAR Chief Executive Officer Lynda Fernandez, a legal update by HGAR Instructor William O'Keeffe, an attorney and founding partner of O’Keeffe & McCann of Goshen; HGAR Chief DEI Officer Freddimir Garcia and HGAR Director of Professional Development Michael Malone.

HGAR’s Fernandez reported to the more than 60 attendees that the association will release its latest Strategic Plan soon and asked that all members fill out their Member Engagement Profiles. She explained the profiles will allow the association to learn a member’s interests in association-related initiatives, whether it be serving on committees, participating in legislative advocacy, or attending HGAR-related events, such as RPAC or Realtor Foundation programs, or industry forums and focus groups.

She said that one of the main goals of the Strategic Plan will be to foster better communication between the association and its more than 13,000 members.

In her Market Update, Fernandez related that Orange County suffered a 24.7% drop in overall sales in 2023 as compared to 2022, due to high interest rates and low inventory. Orange County closed out 2023 with 933 active listings, which was a 20.6% drop from 12 months earlier. The average monthly supply of all property types in Orange County ended 2023 at 2.7 months, a 10% decline from the previous year.

Fernandez noted that a balanced market has between 6 months to 9 months average supply. While most metrics were down last year, the median sale price for all property types in Orange County continued to rise, increasing 4.4% at year’s end to $400,000.

On a positive note, the HGAR CEO noted that pending sales were 6% higher than a year ago. Fernandez reported that HGAR began releasing monthly statistics to the media from OneKey MLS last month rather than quarterly figures. She said the monthly statistics are more timely than sources used previously by HGAR.

She also noted that some analysts are predicting a “Silver Tsunami” of properties coming on the market from aging Baby Boomers. Some expect as many as 9 million homes to come on the market in the next decade from this aging market demographic, Fernandez related.

The highly informative program also included O’Keefe, who detailed the latest on Property Condition Disclosure requirements and other state and federal legal issues. HGAR’s Garcia reported on the latest DE&I programs leading up to the DEI Summit later this year, while Malone covered HGAR’s both in-person and online courses offered by the association and other education-oriented initiatives.