Wow, that went quick, that first month of 2017! And here we are, at the cusp of the month of Love, February! And on this day, February 1, while I thought inventory would bloom and blossom and spike up from last month significantly, only 483 residential homes are listed active for sale in all of Long Beach and Lakewood, California, up from 461 on January 1, but only by 22 homes, which is not a lot. Inventory in our area is still significantly down from 564 at the beginning of the December 2016 and 682 just 3 months ago today, showing tight, tight supply continuing.
In the month of January 2017, 265 homes sold/closed escrow in Long Beach and Lakewood, California, down from December’s 386 closed and November’s 342 closed.
This means we now have a 1.8 month supply of inventory.
A further new statistic I will add and track starting this year is the number of Pending Sales and Homes Under Contract. That number today on February 1 for the area Long Beach and Lakewood is 416.
Let’s see how it breaks down in some different price points:
Of the 483 residential homes listed for sale right now:
- 97 are priced at $800,000+ (104 last month).
- 23 homes sold in the month of January at $800,000+ (37 last month)
- That’s a 4.2 month supply (up from 2.8 month supply last month)
- 31 in this price range are currently under contract & pending (in escrow)
- 185 are priced $600,000+ (186 last month)
- 75 homes sold in the month of January at $600,000+ (117 last month)
- That’s a 2.5 month supply (up from 1.6 months supply last month)
- 108 in this price range are currently under contract & pending sale (in escrow)
- 248 are priced between $300,000 and $600,000 (up from 227 last month)
- 160 homes priced $300,000 to $600,000 sold in the month of January (210 last month)
- That’s a 1.6 month supply of homes in this price range (up from 1.1 last month)
- 251 in this price range are currently under contract & pending sale (in escrow)
- 53 are priced $300,000 and less (51 last month)
- 35 homes priced under $300,000 sold in the month of January (50 last month)
- That’s a 1.5 month supply of homes in this price range (up from 1.0 last month)
- 58 in this price range are currently under contract & pending sale (in escrow)
My observations and comments:
- A slow-down in homes closed in January, which makes sense if you consider that people were not shopping for many homes in December to close in January…. But robust number of Pending Contracts in all price categories at about a 1:1 ratio with Actives (For Sale) up to $600,000 price point, then drops above $600,000 price point, and drops further over $800,000.
2. I did a quick look and comparison to last year’s stats which I kept – on Jan 31, 2016, a year and a day ago from today, the Active inventory in Long Beach and Lakewood was 598, more than 100 homes more than today’s inventory, or 24% higher than today’s inventory. The Solds for the month of January 2016 were similar to this year’s January – 269. So year on year, we do have tighter inventory.
3. If you’re looking to sell your home or investment property, the current low inventory setting is still favorable for you, driving up prices now, since there are still many sellers “holding off till Spring” – therefore there is a financial advantage to putting your home on the market NOW vs waiting till March or April when more homes are expected to flood the market. Buyers are buying now – look at the Pending Contracts numbers.
Call me today! Here’s my info again – call/text 310-739-8272 or email me at NancyD@century21masters.com. Love is in the air this month, and you know I LOVE TO SELL HOMES! 🙂
Nancy Deprez
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