The local real estate experts at Market Watch LLC have just released their August 2017 Desert Housing Report, containing the real estate market stats for the month of August. Some of their findings:
As of the end of August, the Coachella Valley detached home median price stood at $365,000 ($15,000 or 4.3% higher than at the same time last year). As the chart shows, decreases in the Coachella Valley detached home median price over the last four months has brought the price back near the 4% per year growth curve, a level it has oscillated around for the last four years.
At the end of August, the Coachella Valley attached home median price stood at $244,925 ($13,925 or 6% higher than at the same time last year). The experts at Market Watch fell that this is a sign that attached home prices are finally beginning to show some strength after four years of little gain.
The year-over-year change in the median price of detached homes in the nine major Coachella Valley cities shows eight cities with higher median prices and only one city, Rancho Mirage, with a lower median price. The largest year-over-year gain is La Quinta at 13.9%, followed by Cathedral City at 9.1% and Palm Springs at 7.9%. Even with these gains, detached home median prices remain anywhere from 1.3% (in Palm Springs) to 36.8% (in Rancho Mirage) below the Coachella Valley’s 2006 high median prices.
In August, the twelve-month average of total sales hit 813 units; the highest level of sales since November of 2012. Detached home sales are up 16% compared to this time last year, while attached sales are higher by 13.7% compared to this time last year.
All cities, except Coachella, Desert Hot Springs and Thousand Palms, recorded higher home sales compared to a year ago. The cities with the largest percentage sales increases are Bermuda Dunes with an 88% increase, Indian Wells with a 35% increase and Cathedral City and Rancho Mirage, each with a 24% increase. Palm Springs and Palm Desert, at 188 and 178 units a month, continue to lead the Valley in total unit sales.
In the under $200K and $200-300K price brackets, three-month sales in August were almost identical to sales one year ago. Sales in the price brackets from $300k to $800k show significant percentage gains. For example, sale of homes priced from $300k to $400k rose 17% from this time last year. Sales from $400k to $500k rose 19% and sales of homes priced over one million dollars rose 18% from this time a year ago.
The Coachella Valley’s housing inventory stood at 3,182 on September 1st, which translates into a “months of supply” ratio of 3.9 months. This is the first time the months of supply ratio has fallen below four months since 2013. Market Watch’s experts feel that this is the result of lower inventory and a higher sales rate, which in their opinion is a fundamental sign of a strong housing market.
In terms of months of supply by price range, Market Watch noted significant improvement over a year ago in months of supply ratios in all price brackets, but especially in those price brackets above $700k.
Market Watch’s experts noted that the months of supply ratio is lower in every major city in the Coachella Valley (except for Coachella and Desert Hot Springs) compared to last year and that on September 1st, no city had a ratio higher than 6.0 months except Indian Wells (with a ratio of 6.8 months).
The information contained in this article is produced for Coachella Valley real estate agents through the sponsorship and cooperation of the Palm Springs Regional Association of Realtors® (PSRAR) and the California Desert Association of Realtors® (CDAR) by Market Watch LLC.