August's quiet buyers, and a Turtle Ridge preview

This Week

Nobody tours homes in the third week of August for entertainment. The traffic is thinner and far better qualified, which is why a well-prepared home listed now often does better than the same home listed into a crowded September.

The Market Minute

• Open-house traffic: down in volume, up in quality.
• Offers per listing: fewer, but with a higher share that get to contract.
• Guard-gated Irvine: the part of the market where we see the least seasonal slowdown.
• Coming-soon conversations: at their highest of the summer, ahead of the September launches.

Fresh on the Market

Around the County

Spotlight on The Summit: the guard-gated top of Turtle Ridge trades on lot and view more than on square footage, which is why two homes of the same size can be a million dollars apart.