Our local Coachella Valley housing market experts, Market Watch LLC, have just released their May 2017 Desert Housing Report. Some of the highlights are as follows:
The Coachella Valley’s May 2017 Detached Home Median Price was $389,000. While unchanged from April, this represents an 11.1% gain (an increase of $39,000) over last May’s Median Price. The Coachella Valley’s May Attached Home Median Price rose to $260,000 versus $250,000 in May 2016 (an increase of 4%).
The May 2017 Detached Home Median Price increased year-over-year in six of the nine major Valley cities (Rancho Mirage, Cathedral City, Palm Springs, Indio, La Quinta and Desert Hot Springs). The increases ranged from 11.7% for Desert Hot Springs down to 3.8% for Rancho Mirage. One city, Coachella, was unchanged price wise; Palm Desert’s Median Price was down 1.3%; and Indian Wells’ Median Price was down 5.2%.
The May 2017 Attached Home Median Prices increased in four cities (Rancho Mirage, Indio, La Quinta and Cathedral City) and decreased in four cities (Palm Desert, Palm Springs, Indian Wells and Desert Hot Springs). The two highest increases in Median Prices were in Cathedral City and La Quinta, with year over year gains just over 14%.
Total Home Sales, based on a 3 month moving average, were 1,018 units for May 2017 (an increase of 20% over May 2016). Detached Home Sales were up 21% year-over-year, while attached sales were up 19% year-over-year.
All cities except Coachella had substantially higher three month average sales over last year. Percentage wise year-over-year, sales in Bermuda Dunes increased 93%, Thousand Palm sales increased 53% and Rancho Mirage sales increased 48%. In absolute numbers, Palm Desert had the highest three month average sales at 219 sales per month (versus 180 in May 2016), followed by Palm Springs at 213 sales per month (versus 183 in May 2016), La Quinta at 162 sales per month (versus 126 in May 2016) and Indio at 122 sales per month (versus 115 in May 2016).
Total three month average sales increased in every price bracket compared to last year. The largest increases, percentage-wise, were in homes priced at $700k and above. The sales increase in homes over $1M was 30% (73 sales in May 2017 versus 56 a year earlier).
Inventory levels continued to decrease. On June 1st, they stood at 4,113 units, versus 4,962 units on June 1, 2016. With lower inventory and higher sales, the “months of supply” ratio on June 1st stood at 5.2 months versus 7.2 months on June 1, 2016. The housing market is considered in balance with a months of supply ratio of 6 months, so the market appears to be trending towards a seller’s market. The days on the market ratio for May 2017 stood at 74 days versus 93 days for May 2016.
Seven cities (Coachella, Thousand Palms, Indio, Cathedral City, Palm Springs, Desert Hot Springs and Palm Desert) now have “months of supply” ratios below 6 months and no city has a “months of supply” ratio over ten months.
Distressed sales (REO and short sales) are now only 3.7% of total sales, the first time this ratio has fallen below 4% since 2006. All cities now have ratios below 10%, the first time this has happened since the foreclosure crisis over seven years ago.