The Desert Sun’s Rosalie Murphy writes that Coachella Valley home prices rose 9.5 percent year-over-year to a median price of $310,000 ($179 per square foot) in February, according to data from real estate research firm CoreLogic DataQuick. This is the highest that the Valley’s median rice and price per square foot have been in at least 35 months.

While the median price increased, sales decreased 2.3 percent from February 2016 to February 2017. New construction sales fell significantly, down 37 percent year over year, while resales of single-family homes  increased by 1.8 percent. There were 5,861 properties on the market in February, down 13 percent year over year, according to the California Desert Association of Realtors. This isn’t too surprising given that inventory was unusually high last winter, in part at least because some Canadian homeowners opted to sell their properties to take advantage of exchange rates.

Across the Valley, homes in Indian Wells sold for a median of $276 per square foot in February, unusually high even for that wealthy city. In Palm Springs, homes sold for a median of $213 per square foot in the 92262 ZIP code and $234 in the 92264 ZIP code. In Indio, prices climbed to $161 per square foot, and in Desert Hot Springs, they reached $123 per square foot, according to CoreLogic DataQuick.

Statewide, California home sales increased about 5 percent year over year-to-year, with a median price of $478,790 (an increase of about 7.6 percent year over year) and an average price per square foot of $241 in February. There were four months of inventory on the statewide market in February, at the low end of what agents generally consider a balanced market and the average time to sell a home (average days on market) fell to 33 days in February (down from 41.5 days year-to-year).

February Desert Home Sales At A Glance:

  • Total sales: 711, down 2.3 percent from February 2016
  • New construction sales: 39, down 37.1 percent year-over-year
  • Resale single-family home sales: 457, up 1.8 percent year-over-year
  • Resale condo sales: 215, down 0.9 percent year-over-year
  • Median sale price: $310,000, up 9.5 percent year-over-year
  • Median price per square foot: $179, up 7.6 percent year-over-year

Source: CoreLogic DataQuick

To read Rosalie Murphy’s original article and view the accompanying pictures, courtesy of The Desert Sun, please visit: http://www.desertsun.com/story/money/real-estate/2017/03/20/coachella-valley-real-estate-prices-market/99319400/