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.

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Foreclosure Can Mean Different Things - Depending Where You Live

Mention the word foreclosure and most people can conjure up the mental image of someone forced out of their home for not paying the mortgage.  Of course this is the broadest and truest sense of what Foreclosure really means and in the last few years it has become distressingly common to hear about in our daily lives.

As a Real Estate Agent I deal with it on a daily basis. The primary way it comes up in my life is a homeowner expressing fear about the inevitability of being foreclosed on.  The mental image most of my clients seem to have is the ultimate end point of foreclosure where the sheriff shows up, guns drawn forcing you to the street.

That point is very far down the road.  The banks are slow to act (more on that below) and the process is much more predictable than most people realize. First you have to understand the process in your particular state.  Part of the US has a process that is called judicial foreclosure where the lenders actually have to go to the court system to take the house back.  The New York Times recently wrote that in New York State the lenders would need 62 years to process all the 213,000 homes currently in some stage of default.

A little more than half the US states do not use the judicial foreclosure process and things can move a little quicker than that.  However, there is still a process, a set time frame in which the foreclosure takes place – do not allow fear to take over. The same article in the New York Times says that all the defaults in California could be processed in three years.  This is still a considerable mess and a huge expenditure of time effort and energy on the lending industry to attempt to get back on course.

So what is the point?  Well even if you only read the headlines you have probably noticed that they are saying that the rate of foreclosures is slowing. There are many factors here. Banks are slowing down the actual foreclosures and going for more loan modifications and short sales. Then you have a higher percentage of homeowners who are trying to fight to stay in their homes.  The people who had 100% financing and “no skin in the game” as it were have pretty much moved through the system.  Those loans were the first to turn sour and get foreclosed on.  More of the people in default now have, or had, an equity stake in their property. Finally there is intense regulatory pressure on the banks by the government. Talk to anyone in the mortgage industry and it quickly becomes clear that the ever changing but increasing pressure from the Government is helping in someways and hurting in others but the end result is a slowdown in the process.

If you or someone you know is in default on your mortgage. Talk with a trusted professional about the process in your state. Start your conversation by first understanding the process then apply it to your situation.  A Realtor, CPA or legal counsel are a good places to start. Scam artists and people who want up front payments to help you save your home should be avoided at all costs. They will only make your situation worse and do no good. Your home is too important an asset to operate in the dark – you must understand the process and come up with a plan of action that is fact based not fear based.

Read More about Foreclosures

Read More about Short Sales

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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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