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Our local real estate market experts, Market Watch LLC, have just released their April 2022 Desert Housing Report, Some highlights:

COACHELLA VALLEY DETACHED HOME MEDIAN PRICE: The median price of a detached home in the Coachella Valley in April was $685,000 (up 2.2% year-over-year from the detached home median price of $670,500 in April 2022). Market Watch pointed out that the detached home median price gains of the last few months are holding firm, with the current detached home median price only 3.5% below the record high detached home median price of $710,000 in July 2022. They did point out that since the Coachella Valley market is coming to the end of its traditionally strong winter/spring seasonal sales period, they expect the upward pressure on detached home prices to relax somewhat.

COACHELLA VALLEY ATTACHED HOME MEDIAN PRICE: The median price of an attached home in the Coachella Valley in April was $480,000 (practically the same as the attached home median price of 479,450 in April 2022). Market Watch noted that this is the second month of strong attached home median price growth, with the current price only 2.2% below the record high attached home median price of $491,056 in May 2022. Market Watch stated that this confirmed that worries of large home price declines is somewhat misplaced. Market Watch felt that while home demand is slowing, so is home supply, thereby keeping Coachella Valley home prices relatively stable.

COACHELLA VALLEY 12 MONTH CHANGE IN THE PRICE OF THE AVERAGE SIZE HOME BY CITY: The price of the average size detached home decreased year-over-year in every Coachella Valley city other than Desert Hot Springs (where the price of the 1,600 sq ft average size Desert Hot Springs detached home increased year-over-year by 3.8%). The detached home price decreases in the other Coachella Valley cities ranged from a 0.7% year-over-year decrease in the price of the 1,800 sq ft average size Cathedral City detached home to a 10.1% year-over-year decrease in the price of the 2,176 sq ft average size Palm Springs detached home. The price of the average size attached home increased year-over-year in six of the nine Coachella Valley cities surveyed. These attached home year-over-year price changes ranged from an increase of 23.6% for the 750 sq ft average size attached home in Desert Hot Springs to a decease of 5.7% for the 1,050 sq ft average size attached home in Indio.

COACHELLA VALLEY MONTHLY HOME SALES (THREE-MONTH TRAILING AVERAGE): The three-month average of home sales in the Coachella Valley in April was 665 home sales (while this was down 316 homes or 32.2% year-over-year from average home sales of 981 homes in April 2022, it was also up 120 homes or 22% from sales of 545 homes in March). Market Watch felt that most of this home sales increase was seasonal and they expected average home sales to continue to increase for another month. Market Watch noted that the 665 average April home sales were still roughly 23% below the pre-pandemic average April home sales of 868 homes sales per month.

COACHELLA VALLEY MONTHLY HOMES SALES (TWELVE-MONTH TRAILING AVERAGE): The 12-month average of Coachella Valley home sales, which takes out seasonality from the data, was 601 homes sales in April. Market Watch noted that this was the 21st consecutive monthly decline in average home sales. Further they pointed out that long term sales in April were running about 25% below the pre-pandemic April sales average of 800 home sales per month.

COACHELLA VALLEY HOME SALES BY CITY: In April, every Coachella Valley city continued to have lower three-month average sales compared to last year, showing that the homes sales decline is broad based throughout the Coachella Valley. The largest percentage declines in home sales year-over-year were in Cathedral City (down 50.6%), followed by Desert Hot Springs (down 47.9%) and Indio (down 36.6%). The smallest percentage declines in home sales year-over-year were in Coachella (down 17.7%) and Palm Desert (down 22%).

COACHELLA VALLEY HOME SALES BY PRICE RANGE: Market Watch stated that while home sales declined year-over-year in every price range, the largest home sales declines in April continued to be in homes priced between $400,000 and $700,000. Sales of million-dollar plus homes in April were down 33.2% year-over-year, while sales of homes priced between $900,000 to $1,000,000 were down 25.7% year-over-year. Also, to show how much home prices have increased over the last three years, Market Watch noted that in April 2018, seventy-seven homes sold for more than one million dollars, whereas in April 2023, 145 homes sold for more than one million dollars. Market Watch explained that this increase in sales was due solely to the fact that so many more homes are now priced over one million dollars.

COACHELLA VALLEY TOTAL HOME SALE INVENTORY: On May 1st, Coachella Valley home sale inventory was 1,876 homes (100 homes less than on April 1st, but 1,017 homes more than on May 1st, 2022). Market Watch stated that the primary reason inventory isn’t growing much in this low sales environment is that monthly new listings continue to remain near historic lows. Further they noted that if the Coachella Valley’s traditional seasonal pattern continues this year, it’s expected that inventory will continue to decrease moving into summer.

COACHELLA VALLEY REGIONAL MONTHS OF SALES RATIO: On May 1st, the Coachella Valley’s months of sales ratio was 3.1 months (down from 3.2 months on April 1st of this year). Market Watch explained that this fundamental ratio, measuring supply versus demand, was slightly below the historic averages for this time of year, meaning that, even though home sales were down, there continues to be a balance between buyers and sellers. They further explained that it is this balance of supply with demand that is helping maintain the large Coachella Valley home price gains of the last two years.

COACHELLA VALLEY MONTHS OF SALES RATION BY PRICE RANGE: Months of sales ratios ranged from a low of 1.6 months for homes priced under $300,000 to 4.6 months for homes priced over one million dollars. The May 1st months of sale ratios far exceeded the May 1st, 2022 months of sales ratios in every price range. Market Watch felt that because the months of sales ratios in every price range remained relatively close to three months, they expected price stability should exist throughout the entire range of home prices. 

COACHELLA VALLEY MONTHS OF SALES RATIOS BY CITY: In April, the months of sales ratios were three months or less in Coachella, Indio, Indian Wells, Bermuda Dunes, Cathedral City and Desert Hot Springs. Market Watch commented that no Coachella Valley city had a months of sales ratio over four months.

COACHELLA VALLEY REGIONAL DAYS IN THE MARKET: At the end of April, the median number of days in the market in the Coachella Valley was 48 days (the same as at the end of March but 27 days more than at the end of April 2022). However, the Coachella Valley days in the market remains below the pre-pandemic April average of 65 days.

COACHELLA VALLEY DAYS IN THE MARKET FOR DETACHED & ATTACHED HOMES BY CITY: At the end of April, Coachella had the lowest median selling time for detached homes at 21 days, followed by Palm Springs at 40 days. The longest median selling time for detached homes was 59 days in Indio. At the end of April, Palm Springs had the shortest median selling time for attached homes at 26 days, followed by Indian Wells at 29 days. The longest median selling time for attached homes was 68 days in Bermuda Dunes.

PERCENTAGE OF COACHELLA VALLEY HOMES SELLING ABOVE LIST PRICE: In April, 15.2% of sales sold above list price compared to 55.9% in April 2022. Market Watch noted that the percentage of Coachella Valley homes selling above list price has stopped its year long decline and has started to increase.

AVERAGE PRICE DISCOUNTS FROM LIST FOR DETACHED & ATTACHED BY COACHELLA VALLEY CITY: In April, every Coachella Valley city had an average selling discount for detached homes, ranging from an average discount of 0% in Coachella to an average discount of 3.5% in La Quinta. Similarly, in April, every Coachella Valley city had an average selling discount for attached homes, ranging from an average discount of 1.6% in Cathedral City to an average discount of 4.6% in Bermuda Dunes.

The Briggs Group at Coldwell Banker Realty | Laurie Briggs – DRE# 01896117 | Tim Briggs – DRE# 01898254 | Coldwell Banker Realty DRE# 00616212