Let’s see how we are faring on the last work day of the year 2017 in 2 of Southern California’s communities with which I am most familiar: the seaside community of Long Beach, a city on the Pacific which is the 2nd largest city in the Los Angeles Metropolitan Area, and the 3rd largest city in all of Southern California, and a population approximately 460,000; and Lakewood, a post-WII suburb/plannned community adjacent to Long Beach with a population of 80,000, home to many great shops and store and families.
Long Beach Stats
Let’s start with the bigger city – Long Beach.
For the year 2017, over 2100 single family houses & over 1150 condos were sold!
For Long Beach on this day – Dec 29, 2017, there are 350 residential properties for sale, 222 of them are single family houses (detached), and 98 of them are condos (attached). Doesn’t add up exactly, as there are miscellaneous other properties such as co-ops but for the sake of simplicity – 63% of the homes for sale in Long Beach are houses, and 28% are condos.
The average sales price for an actively listed house in Long Beach is $926,000, with a range from $259,000 to $4,295,000. Average days on market is 72 days.
The average sales price for an actively listed condo in Long Beach is $504,000, with a range from $139,000 to $1,395,000. Average days on market is 72 days.
In the last 30 days, 280 residential homes closed escrow and sold. Of those, 161 were houses (58%) and 94 were condos (34%).
The average sales price for sold houses in Long Beach was $666,000, with a range from $309,900 to $3,195,000. Average days on market was 34 days.
The average sales price for sold condos in Long Beach was $415,000, with a range from $160,000 to $1,300,000. Average days on market was 30 days.
Lakewood Stats
In the year 2017, over 800 homes were sold in Lakewood!
Entire city of Lakewood currently has only 55 residential homes for sale, of which 52 are single family houses, as most of Lakewood is 1940s to 1950s construction houses on pretty tree lined streets. Since condos make up such a small part of the inventory in Lakewood, I’ll only address houses for Lakewood.
Of the 52 houses for sale, the average price is $622,000, with a range from $485,000 to $1,529,000. Average days on market is 44 days.
66 houses closed escrow in the last 30 days. The average sales price for sold houses in Lakewood was $580,000, with a range of $425,000 to $1,049,990. Average days on market was 29 days.
Conclusions
For both Long Beach and Lakewood, inventory levels are at historic lows, with Long Beach having 1.25 months inventory, and Lakewood having less than one month’s inventory. I get this from dividing the number sold in the last 30 days into the number of active units for sale.
This accounts for the very short average days on the market.
Price is always an issue – Active inventory is priced considerably higher in Long Beach vs what is selling, with single family houses having a larger discrepancy than condos. For example, for houses in Long Beach, average selling price is $260,000 or 39% (average active home is listed 39% higher than average sold home).
For condos in Long Beach, average Actives are listed $89,000 more than average sold, or 21% (ie. average active condo is listed 21% higher than average condo sold).
Comparatively, likely since there is more uniformity in the housing stock in Lakewood, the discrepancy between average sales price for Active homes vs Sold homes is only $42,000 or 7% (average active home listed 7% higher than average sold home).
Interpretation
If you are a seller, be assured that it is still a seller’s market with tight inventory levels, and many interested buyers looking. Pricing is an issue, as buyers are very price sensitive and are looking to purchase within a tight range, for the most part. There is more activity in Lakewood because the price of single family homes is still very affordable and prices for actively listed homes are similar to what is being sold. On the other hand, active listings in Long Beach are high, especially for detached single family houses. So if you’re selling, price your home competitively.
For buyers, competition is fierce for well priced homes. But, there may be wiggle room on homes priced on the high side with long days on market, so don’t dispair! Let’s head into 2018 with optimism and drive and please don’t hesitate to ask me questions about this very dynamic market!
Nancy Deprez
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