Happy Late Summer Everyone!
I hope you are all doing well and getting ready for Labor Day weekend.
It’s been a while since I have shared with you in this newsletter and blog a market snapshot of what has been going on real estate-wise in the hamlets of Long Beach and Lakewood in Southern California.
The market this summer has been brisk and strong. Let’s quickly take a look at the numbers and how they compare to the last time I reported in this space, back at the end of March 2017. If you are new to this newsletter and blog, follow along and you’ll see my format is quite self-explanatory.
Market Snapshot August 31, 2017
Today, on August 31, 2017, our local Multiple Listing Service shows 562 residential homes are listed active for sale in all of Long Beach and Lakewood, California. Compare this with 458 active listings back in March 2017 and 449 in February 2017. This shows that at the end of summer, our inventory is up by 23% compared to during the springtime.
In the month of August 2017, 428 homes sold/closed escrow in Long Beach and Lakewood, California, way up from March’s closes of 334. So not only has Active Inventory gone up, so have closings, which have increased by 28%!
This gives us a ratio of 1.3 month supply of inventory, which has stayed fairly consistent this year. This means the number of Active listings is only 30% more than what gets sold in one month!
A further new statistic I have added to track starting this year is the number of Pending Sales and Homes Under Contract, also sometimes called the Absorption Rate. That number of Pending Sales and Homes Under Contract today on August 31, 2017 for the area Long Beach and Lakewood is 527, very consistent with 534 back in March.
Wow! That means the absorption rate almost at a 1:1 ratio – almost as many Pending sales as Actives – showing that homes are being absorbed quickly as they are coming on the market!
All these numbers mean is that we in the Southern California area of Long Beach and Lakewood, nestled on the coast between Los Angeles and Orange County, continue to have a Seller’s Market with limited inventory, and while that inventory has increased since Spring, so has the buyer demand, resulting in increased sales figures.
This is consistent with the message you are receiving from the general media about Los Angeles and Orange County real estate markets where a combination of a strong economy, still low interest rates, and a shortage of real estate inventory is driving up prices.
And speaking of prices, according to Zillow, the median sales price of a house in Long Beach is $557,400, having increased 6.8% in the past year, with a median list price per square foot of $430. Similarly, the median sales price of a house in Lakewood is $547,500, having increased 6.0% in the past year, with a median list price per square foot of $419.
Well that is enough stats for one day! Enjoy your end of summer and don’t hesitate to email or call me with more specific questions you may have about the market.
Nancy Deprez
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