In an ideal world with stable interest rates and a balanced supply and demand, home prices would rise in tandem with income gains, said Erik Franks, a research manager at John Burns Real Estate Consulting in Irvine, Calif.
That sales success enabled homebuilders to raise prices especially in a place like Orange County, where buildable land is hard to find and the inventory of homes for sale is limited, says analyst Erik Franks of John Burns Real Estate Consulting in Irvine.