Palm Springs Market Statistics 2014

Short sales and Foreclosures Drop - Equity Sales Increase

PRICES RISE year over year in the Coachella Valley

Market statistics for May 2014 have been compiled and published.  It shows some interesting facts and a decided change in the Real Estate market in Palm Springs. If displayed on a graph it would also show a steady line up. The trends we are about to discuss below have been steadily developing this entire year, with no retreat.

• First, the number of homes being sold as foreclosures or short sales has taken another big drop. This category is down 50% from May 2013 when 18% of homes were in this category.


• Secondly, the number of available homes is rising with about 90 more condos and 90 more homes on average – available each month. This is a wake- up call for sellers because the number of homes selling is dropping in each category and each city.


• Third and most important however is the marked increase in price. The median sales price for single family homes is now $455,100 whereas in 2013 it was $368,100 and for condos the median price is now at $232,222 VS. the 2013 figure of $182,000.

With these type numbers Pam Springs and the Coachella Valley are outpacing the Riverside County wide statistics, where a higher percentage of homes are still in foreclosure or short sale and the median price  remains over $100,000 less than Pam Springs.

Obviously, the number of properties selling will drop as prices rise.  The prices will rise as the supply of foreclosed and short sale homes drops.  Notwithstanding that obvious equation - there is no doubt that the market in Palm Springs has returned to a more stabilized mode.

See More Information about the Palm Springs Market Area

Recovery...Really, Is This The Best Time To Sell?

The last three or four months in California (well most of the state anyway) have been a heady return to the days of multiple offers. Declining inventories have lead to a mini frenzy on many properties. Prices have started to inch up. Don't worry, no one is going to get whiplash from the speed that they are rising but they are indeed rising a little. Homes that are in tip top shape sell first, followed by homes that need just a little work followed by great buys on big fixers in good areas.

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This trend has bypassed  properties with high Homeowners fees, it has also excluded most condos - Single Family homes are the darlings of the current market.  Great prices on homes/condos have had the negative effect of making the HOA fees really jump up and hit buyers in the face.  Ironically, it is the best priced condos that often have the worst time of it. While many people will take a closer look at a nice condo for a mere $100-115 thousand they hit the pause button upon finding out that the monthly dues are over $400. At todays' historically low interest rate that is almost as much as the mortgage.

Many reports on the state of Real Estate focus endlessly on the numbers 49%-55% decreases in inventories year over year, and as mentioned earlier the modest surge in prices.  It would be easy to interpret this as a positive sign of a rejuvenated housing market.  Underlying these trends though some economists are pointing out, are the harder facts. Only about half of the homes purchased are being bought by primary home owners. That means the other half are being bought by investors that want to fix and flip or fix and rent.  The economist say this points to low demand despite record low interest rates consumers are not flocking to buy homes. The underlying economic conditions of growth in the economy and lack of jobs is holding the average home buyer back even with 3.5% interest rates!

The point here is not to say that all is lost. Movement in the market is still good. Banks still have years of work to do to reduce their foreclosed inventory. It is debatable how they will do that but that is for another blog post. Some new construction is starting to spring up or get restarted.  Inventory levels could change depending on these two segments alone.  It has been talked about lately, that the banks may start selling off their inventory in bulk sales. That could change the market drastically. Also, investors could shift gears. If they are unable to find tenants or buyers for their flips they won't be buying more. The economy could improve the only constant here is the fact that things will change.

This leads me to the point that I don't think should be missed. If you are in a position where you know you want to sell your home in the next 6 months, do not wait. Now is the time - seize the moment and do it now.  After almost 12 years in the business I can personally attest to the fact that in every market condition the market tends to shifts about every six months.  The shift could be availability of financing - inventory levels - consumer confidence or something as mundane as popular price points but it will shift.  We are drawing close to that six month window, sellers now is your moment.

2011 Final Sales Numbers IN!

  2011 Sales Statistics

       For The Coachella ValleyArea

9706 total unit sales  Homes/Condos

The year that just ended was a very busy year for Real Estate.  While Short sales and foreclosures made up close to 50% of the market there were still many traditional sales taking place

Counting the Cities from Palm Springs to Mecca we saw 7,338 single family homes sell in 2011.  Almost  a quater of those - 24.05% - sold in 30 days or less.  Another 34.98% - took between 30 and 90 days to sell.

The median sales price for single family homes was $190,750.  Not surprisingly the homes that sold in 30 days or less achieved 97% of their asking price, however the bigger surprise may be that homes on the market for 120 days or more still achieved 92% of their asking prices.

To contrast these numbers with 2010  the percentage of list price achieved went up year over year - in 2010 it was only 93%, so 4% beter in 2011.  The total number of homes sold was down but only by  25 units however, the median sales price was down 15K over 2010 when it was $205,000.

Looking at  Condo sales in 2011:  We saw 2368 total units sell The median price for those was $173,750. Asking price vs. actual sales price percentages were in a tight range between 92% and 94%. The most telling thing in this category was the days on market - or time it took to sell a condo. Almost half 48.3% of the units took over 120 days to sell. Buyer resistance to homeowners fees and more difficulty qualifying for a loan were the primary culprits here.

There were 5 homes sold in 2011 over 5 million dollars in the valley. One at the Hideaway one at Bighorn in Palm Desert and 2 at the Vintage.  The winner for top sales price was a 7.6 million dollar estate in The Madison.

See Luxury Properties In The Desert

With the vastly reduced inventory (only 4858 homes and condos valley wide) 2012 promises to be a very competitive year for home buyers in the Coachella Valley especially in the more popular price points.  Most well priced properties are once again seeing multiple offer situations.

Search For Homes In The Palm Springs Area

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This Month In Real Estate

This Month In Real Estate

This months report covers first time buyers wants and needs. What motivates them to buy rather than rent. The major driving force now is the staggeringly low 4.1% average mortgage interest rate.

This Month In Real Estate October 2011

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May Sales Stats In The Coachella Valley

As if low interest rates were not enough reason to get serious about buying look at these numbers! 

Exceeding all expectations the May 2011 real estate sales numbers reflect a growing trend. Over 900 homes sold - AGAIN!  This time 911. Once again a new  milestone - breaking the 900 mark for  homes sold in one month for only the third time in the last 2 years! You will also be surprised to learn that while 1274 homes came on the market in May 2011 another 1286 moved into escrow by going under contract.  Essentially wiping out the gains of the new homes listed.  Supply and demand seem to be leveling out.

More good news as the median price has risen 23% since May of 2009. While prices are still low and pockets of resistance still exist there is no question that exceptional values are becoming a little more scarce.  In general we can say that for homes in great condition prices are headed up not down on average.

Most importantly the months supply of inventory is dropping like a stone! Month supply of inventory is figured by assuming that the current sales rate continues and no other home is listed for sale. That would mean we only have 3.8 months inventory left!  Not only is that the lowest in more than two years but it represents a steady decline since December of 2010 when we had a 10 month supply. These are numbers that can't be ignored. A change is in the air. If you are looking to buy real estate it would be hard to beat the timing of this market.

New Statistics on Short Sales, Foreclosures and Regular Sales

The California Association of Realtors has released new data on the percentage of sales that are short, bank owned or traditional.  In a two year study - January 2009 to January 2011 what they found was this:

In January of 2009 the break down was:

Bank Owned: 51%  Short Sale: 10% Traditional Sale: 39%

Bank owned sales began declining in April of 09 and continued that trend with only a small uptick in June of 2010
Short Sales during the same time period began a steady climb that has not stopped while traditional sales actually surged above 50% for most of 2010.

According to the study January of 2011 saw the numbers at:

Bank Owned: 34%  Short Sale 24% Traditional 42%

It is clear that short sales are going to continue to be a big part of the inventory of homes for sale.  With foreclosure rates falling off it seems as though bank owned home sales will continue to level off. The main thing that could change that is if the banks have large inventories of unsold homes that they have not released yet.

For more information on Short Sales be sure to visit that page on my website PSagent.com

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March 2011 Real Estate Sales Stats - Palm Springs, CA

Raising the roof on real estate sales. 

We have reached a milestone - the most homes sold in one month in the last 2 years!  A total of 954 properties closed escrow in the month of March 2011. This statistic combined with an approximately 9% drop in year over year supply of inventory has starting to change the face of the Real Estate market in the Coachella Valley.

The median Sold price has steadily climbed an average of $214,495 up 21.9% change from March of 2009. Lastly the Months Supply of Inventory - meaning how many months existing inventory would last if no new homes came on the market - is now at 5.9 months - again this represents a new two year low.

Mortgages rates are still very competitive hovering around 5% though all industry buzz is that these are going to rise and soon. If you are in the market now is a decidedly good time to strike. If you are thinking of selling now is a good time to explore your options.

Market Trends and This month In Real Estate

November numbers are out for the Valley and show a decided drop in the over all sales. A 7.7% drop from Novemebr 2009 when 826 total properties sold vs. 762 in 2010.

Difficulty for consumers in obtaining loans and the vast number of short sales (delayed property closings) surely contributed to the lower number as did a general slowdown in foreclosed properties coming to the market.

There were some bright spots in the market - as always Real Estate is local and a look at the local areas confirms that. Palm Springs Central (north of Ramon Road but south of Vista Chino) saw an increase of 29% in the number of homes sold year over year. It was also the second month in a row as October had a 22.2% increase. Thousand Palms and La Quinta as well as two of the three sections of Indio all saw significant double digit gains in numbers of properties sold year over year.

At the end of the day, however, we saw a drop and the inventory slipped back up to 9.7 months. This is the number of months it would take to sell existing inventory at current rates if no other homes came on the market.

In the new year we will be looking for government programs, incentive and consumer confidence to drive home sales. Additionally the banks, at least in the Palm Springs marketplace, should start releasing more homes from their foreclosure inventory in the lower price ranges. There is a pent up demand for the lower priced homes that has not been addressed on the local level.

See More Reginal and National Statistics in my One Minute Real Estate Report

Developing Trends In Real Estate Buying

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A Recent article in US World and News Report breaks down the different demographic groups and analyzes the unique choices and challenges each group has in the current real estate market.

The two most interesting points to me, revolved around 1) GenY (late teen to early 30's age group) losing faith in the value of owning a home and coupled with their interest in living in more urban areas becoming a class of permanent renters and 2) The Baby Boomers in the 45-55 age group unable to sell their homes in the suburbs to downsize. Negative equity and a much smaller pool of buyers to sell to make these homes harder to unload.

My thoughts on the Gen Y group is that if they lock themselves into renting now - later in life they may find that the market has passed them by. As the economy changes, interest rates rise and costs continue to escalate they may be unable to buy or at least unable to buy in the areas they most want to live in.  Not only will this create a permanent class of renters but I wonder about the long term economic impact of,  say 20%, of the population not buying property?

As far as the baby boomers being unable to sell their properties at what they paid for them - this is bound to have a negative effect on the retirement plans of these homeowners.  Perhaps fewer vacation home purchases and a delay of retirement all together will be the result. The article mentions a drop in the interest for retirement centers as people live longer and healthier lives. I wonder what will happen to the suburbs as these properties eventually sell for much less or are abandoned all together.

Styles do change and new things become desirable leaving previous "hot ticket items" in the dust. I remember in the early 1980's I was living in the "suburbs" in a nice home that was built in 1973.  It has 4 bedrooms and 4 baths along with a cavernous living room and a small formal dining room plus an eat in kitchen.  I was pretty comfortable and I thought the house was pretty upscale.  One night in the early summer I decided that I would take a walk through the woods to a new home development that was being built.  In those days homes under construction could be left unlocked and I decided to walk through a few of them.  I recall being completely flabbergasted at what I saw.  There were master "suites" with huge walk in closets and bathrooms as big as my entire bedroom and bathroom put together.  Kitchens were big and roomy not little after thoughts off the dining room. Building styles had begun to change and as we would all soon see this was just my first glimpse of  the new style of home for the 1980's. These days no one would look twice at a home like that,  it is standard issue in the American suburbs.

I believe we are the cusp of another major change in how Americans live and what they want in their homes.  My best take, on the trends cited in this interesting article, are that midsized urban centers with a high quality of life are going to be the "hot" properties in the very near future.  Large suburbs far from amenities and work places will suffer as the next generation of home buyer no longer considers them desirable or in fashion.

Look at all homes for sale in Palm Springs California:

Luxury Real Estate The New Bargain?

As the Real Estate market continues to move through the massive changes in the marketplace different bright spots come and go almost like meteors passing across the

night sky. Certain types of properties, certain price ranges will be hot for a few months and then fade.  Some of that is dictated by prevailing loan programs and seller incentives.


In my market place, just a few months ago, any property priced under $150,000, would immediately receive multiple all cash offers.  In that price range at least it seemed like the heady  days of 2005-2006. Bidding wars and buyers falling out of trees.  That has quietly faded probably because many buyers have spent their cash and also the inventory in this price category is drastically reduced from what it was. Investors who bought most of these seem to be rehabbing them and entering them into the rental pool - which is quite competitive in its' own right.

Currently the best deals are starting to be seen in the higher end up to and including the luxury homes.  There are some truly stunning deals out there.  Some of the homes have been reduced as much as 50%.  While you may not be in the market for a luxury property the near luxury properties in the $700, 000- one million dollar range are also seeing dramatic price reductions.

The Banks have been slow to foreclose on these larger properties but there are foreclosures and more coming.  Most industry insiders are reporting that the next two years will see a much larger percentage of luxury real estate and commercial real estate  go on the market at very competitive prices. The number of lower priced homes will slow and the inventory start to dwindle.  In my market place we are seeing the under $250,000 homes actually go up slightly in value.

You can look at some of the great luxury values in the Palm Springs are by using this link.

This Month In Real Estate

Housing Market Affected By Things Other Than Foreclosures

With all of the focus on the foreclosure and short sale market most people assume that the main reason for excess home inventory people losing their homes.

While this of course contributes to the problem recent statistics released by the Census bureau show another trend.  There has been a significant drop in the number of new households that are being created.  The study showed that during the five year period of 2002- 2007 almost 1.3 million new households were being formed each year.  Starting in 2008 the number dropped to just under 400,000 and decreased even more in 2009 to just over 350,000.  That is an astounding drop of 900,000 fewer households started.

In tough economic times people tend to downsize, move in together, delay home purchases and younger people will stay at home longer. In the worst case scenario of course some poeple actually become homeless.  Other factors contributing to the downward trend is a reduction in immigration and marriage rates.  In fact some studies cite immigrants that have actually moved back out of the United States.

These are interesting statistics and show a much broader cause and effect cycle to the housing situation.  As always real estate is local and in the Palm Springs market we are not seeing an oversupply of homes. Our inventory is at a two year low and sales remain very respectable. Further, as so much of the market here is second and vacation home based our numbers and statistics won't line up with more year round markets.

You can see all homes and condos currently available here. If you would like a custom created property search just let us know.

October Sales Stats For The Valley

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Market statistics are in for October and they show that the numbers of homes that were sold in October (433) dipped somewhat from the previous months. The number of properties going into escrow (under contract) in October 2010 increased to 738.

Market activity continues to be strong most importantly the total number of homes listed for sale continues to drop.  Currently a new two year low has been set with fewer than 5,000 homes on the market in the entire Coachella Valley.

See more information Sales statistics for the Palm Springs area.

 

 

Palm Desert Sales Statistics

Palm Springs Sales Statistics

Search For Homes anywhere in the Coachella Valley here:

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Sales Statistics

July Sales Statistics are in and they are impressive. In the 7 major cities of the Coachella Valley 714 homes and condos sold and another 865 went into escrow! While both of these numbers were just a little lower than the June numbers they are very respectable for our "off season" in the valley. Prices seem to be firming up just a little bit strengthened by steadily dropping inventory levels. Currently this is 21% drop in year to year supply of inventory and a 44% increase in sales.

Palm Springs Market Stats

Palm Desert Market Stats

If you have questions about the market or sales trending up or down feel free to call us. Real Estate is always local and conditions can change based on many variables.

Just Sold 425 Via Milano

This beautiful home in the Campanile development in Cathedral City just sold. Listed at $329,000 it sold over asking price at $340,000 with multiple offers.

Who says you can't sell your home in this market?

Priced right, marketed properly you can sell a home in this market. Call us today and let us show you how we can help you.

Call or text: 760-408-5300

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This Month In Real Estate

This month we take a look at a typical Short Sale timeline. Remember if you think you might be a canidate for a short sale the sooner you get your questions answered the better. Be wary of scams that ask for money up front and seek council from a trusted advisor.

We have several staff members who are certified short sale agents and can help address any questins you may have.

May Sales Stats Are Out Of The Park

The numbers for May are in and it look slike another out of the park figure for Coachella Valley homes Sales. 900 plus homes sold and even more going into escrow.Read more about the Coachella Valley Sales Stats here.

April 2010 Sales Way Up!

April 2010 numbers are in and it turned out to be the best month in quite some time. Perhaps it was the first time home buyer tax credit, perhaps it was the decreasing inventory of homes but it lead to very robust sales.

Palm Springs:

58 Single Family Homes Sold
87 Condos Sold

95 Single Family Homes Went into Escrow
89 Condos went into Escrow

Palm Desert:

70 Single Family Homes sold
62 Condos Sold

135 Single Family Homes Went Into Escrow
56 Condos went into escrow

Great numbers all around. 5 homes in Palm Desert and 5 more in Palm Springs sold in the million dollar plus category.

For sales information on your neighborhood contact Michael today.