As the busted 2007 summer selling (listing?) season has transitioned to a paralyzed fall market with persistently high new and resale inventory, the fact that Orange County real estate can decline in price is no longer deniable. The precipitous drop in sales creates a serious conundrum for most homebuilders: they have to balance the need for cash flow with the desire to maximize profits (or at least minimize losses) on their investments in land purchases and in-process construction. The homebuilders working with TIC have the significant added wrinkle of not fully controlling their own pricing.

Since the fear of being ‘priced out forever‘ has convincingly departed prospective homebuyers, many have accepted the proposition that remaining in a current home or renting might not be such a bad thing after all, at least until some more of the price excess is eliminated. The term “wait and see” is showing up in more and more mainstream media (MSM) real estate stories referring to the position of buyers in this standoff. Interestingly, I’ve heard with increasing frequency anecdotal suggestions that since transaction numbers are so low, perhaps so many buyers are now on the sidelines that once prices show any sign of stabilizing, everyone at once will come rushing in to purchase and it will be off to the races with happy days and increasing medians all over again. This is the “pent up demand” theory. Although it shouldn’t be a big surprise to hear realtors make this comment, some relatively rational colleagues and friends of mine have also wondered this out loud.

Well, my analysis of news in and around Irvine developments shows that this is almost certainly not going to happen. I would argue that any pent up demand is being countered with similar, or probably more, pent up supply. Many of these have been discussed on the forums, but here is my working summary of projects that are imminent and/or postponed. All will contribute to pent up supply in the months and years ahead:

Woodbury East– John Laing’s Celadon bravely opened on schedule this summer, but the originally-scheduled (late summer 2008) debut of California Pacific’s Sienna came and went, and William Lyon’s Ivy models look complete but are standing by, currently promised as January 2008.

Above- William Lyon’s Ivy: “bold” attached product. Are the salespeople keeping themselves occupied watching satellite TV?

Above- California Pacific’s Sienna detached condos, models still under construction…laid out like Decada and its predecessors. Is it my imagination, or did they manage to place these even closer together?

In Woodbury, CalPac’s Andalucia single family homes appear delayed (“early 2008” the letter says), but I’m not sure of what their original opening date might have been.

Orchard Hills- This entire development, originally slated to begin sales in late 2007, is officially postponed more than a year to 2009. Don’t be surprised if the opening is not early 2009 or the delay goes even longer. The Orchard Hills Apartments opened this summer, and do not appear to have incentives, so they may be leasing better than I predicted. The retail shops also opened on schedule, but how long will they be willing to pay TIC lease rates without progress building the community that was (presumably) supposed to be their primary market?

You can see more discussion on Orchard Hills here in the forum or here in a previous blog posting.

The Great Park (former El Toro MCAS)- Lennar has become rather quiet regarding progress and planning at the Great Park; apparently enough so to cause questions on behalf of the City of Irvine as to whether they are still committed to the original proposals. Keep in mind that Lennar won the bid for this property at the apparent peak of the market, in mid-2005.

LA Times Lennar Delay

“In Irvine, Lennar’s plans to build thousands of homes around the planned Orange County Great Park have been pushed back, and the city has not received an updated timeline from the developer since 2005.City officials said Lennar had projected that it would have 781 homes for sale by next year, though the developer said it vowed only to have that number of home sites ready for construction.A plan unveiled by Lennar last summer to nearly triple the number of homes from 3,625 to 9,500, while cutting back on commercial space and adding 400 acres to the park, hasn’t even been discussed with city officials.”

The Orange County Business Journal(registration required) quoted company officials as saying “I don’t think anyone has seen the bottom yet…[but] Lennar will be ready when the rebound comes” in reference to the housing market and their Orange County plans.

The new Village of Stonegate, north of Woodbury, has two signs from CalPac: Palmeras and Mirasol. I couldn’t find any details about either. One or both could even be apartments.

The grading and laying of utilities at Stonegate appears not too far behind similar work at Orchard Hills.

In the Villages of Columbus, William Lyon’s Mirabella luxury townhomes and Ainsley Park paired homes are “Coming soon.” From the brief description on the VOC website, it appears Mirabella is the Columbus Square successor to Kensington Court. Interestingly, they list a higher starting price point than Kensington Court (Columbus Grove, Irvine), which seems implausible given the change in the market and Tustin address.

For a good recap of Irvine project planning, see Zovall’s zoning map post.

A few interesting nuggets of industry rumor: Lennar is reportedly contemplating an end-of-year auction for at least some of their properties at the Villages of Columbus. Their end of fiscal is November, so this would likely occur in the next 30 days if true. Also, The Irvine Company is floating proposals for some kind of post-sale price guarantee to try to coax buyers off the fence. Details are very sketchy, and even if true, timing is unknown.

So the bottom line question should be: Will the buyers waiting for the market to get worse outlast the sellers waiting for the market to get better? For the sellers to win that battle, it assumes plausible the argument that the market is capable of postponing itself back to prosperity. Don’t bet on it.