Our local real estate market experts, Market Watch LLC, have just released their March 2024 Desert Housing Report. Some highlights:
COACHELLA VALLEY MARCH HOME SALES RECOVERY: Coachella Valley home sales in March were 21.7% below normal (where normal is calculated from home sales in March in the pre-pandemic years 2016 through 2019). Market Watch’s comment was that there was a slight improvement in home sales compared to normal from February. They noted that if mortgage rates were to decline, they would hope to see home sales return to normal levels by the end of the year.
COACHELLA VALLEY MARCH DETACHED HOME MEDIAN PRICE: The median price of a detached home in the Coachella Valley in March was $700,000 (up 2.2% from a median detached home price of $685,000 in March 2023 ). Market Watch noted that they expect the seasonal pattern of rising spring home prices to continue for a few more months. However, they also noted that with home inventory increasing and home sales remaining low, supply and demand continues to slowly favor buyers, which should somewhat limit the increase in home prices.
COACHELLA VALLEY MARCH ATTACHED HOME MEDIAN PRICE: The median price of an attached home in the Coachella Valley in March was $500,000 (up 8.7% from a median attached home price of $460,000 in March 2023). Marcket Watch pointed out that the seasonal range of prices for attached homes was much larger than that for detached homes. They also noted that attached home prices were following the normal seasonal pattern, so they expected attached home prices to continue to increase for the next two or three months.
MARCH 12-MONTH CHANGE IN THE PRICE OF THE AVERAGE SIZE COACHELLA VALLEY HOME BY CITY: The changes in average size detached home prices ranged from an increase of 21.7% for the average size 3,450 sq ft detached home in Indian Wells to a decrease of 5.9% for the average size 1,600 sq ft detached home in Desert Hot Springs. The changes in average size attached home prices ranged from an increase of 9.9% for the average size 1,450 sq ft attached home in Bermuda Dunes to a decrease of 7.8% for the average size 750 sq ft attached home in Desert Hot Springs.
COACHELLA VALLEY MARCH MONTHLY HOME SALES (3-MONTH TRAILING AVERAGE): In March, total monthly home sales averaged 633 homes per month (up 9.7% from 577 average monthly home sales in March 2023 and up 22.2% from 518 average monthly home sales in February). Market Watch noted that because of seasonality in the Coachella Valley home sales data, it was difficult to determine where home sales stand on a historical basis. They noted that the home sales recovery data shows that while monthly average home sales were improving, they were still running 21.7% below historic norms.
COACHELLA VALLEY MARCH MONTHLY HOME SALES (12-MONTH TRAILING AVERAGE): In March, the 12-month average of home sales, which removes seasonality from the Coachella Valley home sales data, showed total home sales were averaging 622 homes per month (down 3.6% from 645 average monthly home sales in March 2023). Market Watch noted that the long term average of home sales, which had been increasing for the last 6 months, now appeared to be holding at current levels. However, they continue to believe that it will recover when mortgage rates come down to the 5.5% to 6% range. Recent declines in inflation gave Market Watch hope that this might have already started.
COACHELLA VALLEY MARCH HOME SALES BY CITY: For another month, every city except Desert Hot Springs and Indio had higher three-month average home sales than in March 2023. The cities with the largest percentage-wise increase in average monthly home sales were Indian Wells (up roughly 50% year-over-year) and Palm Springs (up 23% year-over-year).
COACHELLA VALLEY MARCH HOME SALES BY PRICE RANGE: Market Watch felt that this data continued to show that March home sales are generally about the same as a year ago in most price ranges. The largest sales increases were in homes priced from $500k to $600k (where sales were up 33.8% year-over-year). Sales of homes priced over one million dollars increased by 31.5% year-over-year (mainly due to more homes now falling into the over one million dollar price range). Market Watch did point out that the evenness of home sales by price range was positive since it showed that the Coachella Valley housing market was well balanced in all price ranges.
COACHELLA VALLEY APRIL 1ST TOTAL HOME SALE INVENTORY: On April 1st, the Coachella Valley home sale inventory was 2,450 homes (up 24% from 1,976 homes on April 1st, 2023 and the highest number since June 2020). Market Watch noted that while home sale inventory has improved, it is still 500 to 1,000 homes less than historic norms (e.g., 3,772 homes on April 1st 2019 and 3,043 homes on April1st 2020). Market Watch felt that the seasonal pattern suggested that this inventory level may be the high for awhile, since inventory usually declines between April and September.
COACHELLA VALLEY APRIL 1ST REGIONAL MONTHS OF SALES RATIO: On April 1st, the Coachella Valley’s overall months of sales ratio was 3.9 months (up from 3.1 months on April 1st, 2023). Market Watch pointed out that the data over time showed that this fundamental ratio has continued to crawl back to pre-pandemic levels. They also stated that even with a months of sales ratio close to four months, there was no overbalancing force yet pushing prices either higher or lower. Therefore, Market Watch continued to expect home prices to stay relatively stable around current levels.
COACHELLA VALLEY APRIL 1ST MONTHS OF SALES RATIOS BY PRICE RANGE: Market Watch noted that as was the case with the regional months of sale ratio, the months of sales ratios were slightly above year ago levels, except in the case of higher priced homes where months of sales ratios were starting to move higher. Market Watch felt that these months of sales ratios were not high enough to cause any disruption to supply and demand.
COACHELLA VALLEY APRIL 1ST MONTHS OF SALE RATIOS BY CITY: On April 1st, every Coachella Valley city had a months of sales ratio measurably higher than one year ago. Every Coachella Valley city other than Coachella had a months of sales ratio over three months, with four cities (La Quinta, Rancho Mirage, Palm Springs and Bermuda Dunes) having months of sales ratios over four months. Market Watch explained that a months of sales ratio of three to four months was considered normal and that the current distribution of months of sales ratios indicated that supply and demand remained pretty much balanced throughout the Coachella Valley.
COACHELLA VALLEY MARCH REGIONAL DAYS IN THE MARKET: Markt Watch noted that the median selling time in the Coachella Valley has slowly been climbing for the last three months. At the end of March, the median number of days in the market in the Coachella Valley was 42 days (down 2 days from 48 days in March 2023). Market Watch felt that the median selling time will remain around current levels moving further into the year.
COACHELLA VALLEY MARCH DAYS IN THE MARKET BY CITY: In March, Coachella continued to have the lowest median selling time for detached homes at 31 days, followed by Indian Wells at 38 days and Desert Hot Springs at 39 days. In the case of attached homes, in March Bermuda Dunes had the shortest average selling time at 16 days, followed by Indio and Rancho Mirage at 35 days each.
COACHELLA VALLEY MARCH PERCENTAGE OF HOMES SELLING ABOVE LIST PRICE: In March, the percentage of homes selling in the Coachella Valley over list price was 14.1% (up from 13.6% in March 2023). Market Watch continued to expect the number of homes selling above list to remain around this level (slightly above historic norms).
COACHELLA VALLEY MARCH AVERAGE PRICE DISCOUNTS/PREMIUMS: In March, in all Coachella Valley cities, detached homes were selling at an average discount ranging from 0.7% in Desert Hot Springs to 4.1% in Bermuda Dunes. In the case of attached homes, in March average discounts ranged from 1.5% in Indio to 3.9% in Bermuda Dunes.
THE BRIGGS GROUP | COLDWELL BANKER | Laurie Briggs - DRE# 01896117 | Tim Briggs - DRE# 01898254 | Coldwell Banker Realty - DRE# 00616212