Our local real estate market experts, Market Watch LLC, through the sponsorship and cooperation of both the Greater Palm Springs Realtors® and the California Desert Association of Realtors® have just released their October 2021 Desert Housing Report. Some highlights:
Coachella Valley Detached Home Median Price: In October, the median price of a detached home in the Coachella Valley was $600,000 (up 13.7% from $527,500 in October 2020). Market Watch stated that it appears that year-over-year price increases are moderating. However, because our real estate market is entering its historically normal period of price strength, they expect any moderation to be minimal.
Coachella Valley Attached Home Median Price: In October, the median price of an attached home in the Coachella Valley was $370,000 (up 19.4% from $310,000 in October 2020). Market Watch noted that because of their lower price points, attached homes are continuing to help fill the low supply levels homebuyers are finding for lower price detached homes. They also noted that even though the effect has been smaller this year than normal, the attached home median price has experienced the historically normal seasonal price softening that occurs through late summer.
12 Month Change in The Price of The Average Size Home: In this new metric, the first numerical column in the accompanying chart is the size of the average home in the corresponding Coachella Valley city; it’s always the same. The second column is the median price per square foot of home sales that month. The third column is the price of the average size home (i.e., the product of the two columns). Cities are then ranked by the 12-month percentage change in the price of the average size home. For detached homes, the price of the average size home increased year-over-year by more than 26% in every Coachella Valley city. At the head of the pack, the year-over-year change in the price of the average size detached home was +43.2% in Bermuda Dunes and +40.1% in Rancho Mirage. For attached homes, the price of the average size attached home increased year-over-year by more than 21% in every Coachella Valley city. Leading the pack, the year-over-year change in the price of the average size attached home was +67.6% in Desert Hot Springs and +37.4% in Bermuda Dunes.
Monthly Home Sales (3-Month Trailing Average): Total home sales over the last three months averaged 806 homes per month. While this is less than the average 1,120 homes per month sold in October 2020, it is still roughly 10% above the pre-pandemic October total home sales average of 730 homes per month. Market Watch felt that home sales continued to contract in October due to the lack of housing inventory.
Monthly Sales (12-Month Trailing Average): The 12-month average of sales (which removes all of the seasonality from the home sales data) in October showed total sales averaged 1,050 homes per month (up 24% year-over-year from 844 homes sale per month in October 2020). Market Watch felt that this data showed that home sales in October were beginning to retreat after last year’s surge, especially in the case of detached homes. They predicted that long term home sales averages will continue to decline, but should stay above pre-pandemic norms.
Home Sales by City: Market Watch pointed out the overall sales slowdown since last year’s surge. The only cities with higher homes sales year-over-year were Coachella and Desert Hot Springs. Home sales declined year-over-year by 52.2% in Indian Wells, 41.4% in Rancho Mirage, 27.4% Palm Desert and 27% in Palm Springs. Market Watch attributed this decline in home sales primarily to the lack of housing inventory.
Home Sales By Price Range: Market Watch noted that sales of homes priced over $700,000 appeared to be at roughly the same level as one year ago. Sales of homes priced in the $300,000 to $400,000 price range decreased by 43.3% year-over-year, sales of homes priced in the $200,000 to $300,000 price range decreased by 58.6% year-over-year and sales of homes priced under $200,000 decreased by 57.4% year-over-year. Market Watch attributed this decrease in sales in these lower price ranges to the lack of housing inventory in them.
Coachella Valley Total Inventory: On November 1st, the total home sale inventory in the Coachella Valley was 915 homes (compared to 883 homes on October 1st and down 54.6% from 2,014 homes for sale on November 1st, 2020). Market Watch believes that this ongoing lack of inventory is the driving force lifting home prices higher. They expressed an interest in seeing if our historically normal pattern of inventory reaching peak levels around March will continue in 2022.
Regional Months of Sales Ratio: The months of sales ratio throughout the Coachella Valley on November 1st was 9/10ths of a month (one tenth of a month higher than last month but still far below the 2.4 months on November 1st , 2020). Market Watch opined that these very low months of sales ratios continue to make this a powerful seller’s market. Further, they believe that there is little price risk since demand continues to far outstrip supply, even after the strong price gains of the last year.
Months of Sales by Price Range: Market Watch felt that this data shows that the historically low months of sales ratios in the Coachella Valley continues in all price brackets, but the greatest decreases in months of sales ratios occurred in the price ranges over $800,000.
Months of Sales by City: All of the cities in the Coachella Valley, with the exception of Desert Hot Springs and Thousand Palms, had months of sales ratios on November 1st significantly below their ratios on November 1st, 2020. La Quinta, Palm Desert and Coachella had months of sales ratios of 0.7 months and with 8 of the 11 Coachella Valley cities surveyed having months of sale ratios of 1 month or under.
Regional Days in the Market: At the end of October, the median value of days in the market throughout the Coachella Valley was at a record low 24 days (compared to 49 days one year ago). Market Watch noted that as demand has continued to exceed supply, the average time to sell a home in the Coachella Valley has continued to fall. They are expecting the median days in the market to remain near current levels for a while. They pointed out that days in the market is not a predictive indicator but results from the current condition of homebuyer demand far exceeding homeowner supply
Days in the Market: These bar charts rank the cities in the Coachella Valley left to right starting with the least number of days in the market for both detached and attached homes. In October, the city of Coachella had the lowest number of days in the market for detached homes at 12 days, followed by Cathedral City at 21 days. In the attached home market, Desert Hot Springs and Cathedral City had the lowest number of days at 11 and 14 days respectively in October.
Regional Price Discount: The median value for sale discount from list for detached homes in October was again 0.0% (the same as it’s been or the last eight months). One year ago, it was -1.0%. Market Watch noted that since so many detached homes are selling right at list price, the median value of all sales is exactly 0.0%. However, when they calculate the average discount for detached homes (which includes the discount or premium of every detached home sale), it revealed that the average discount was +1.1%, meaning that the average home is now selling 1.1% above list price.
Average Price Discounts: These bar charts show the average price discount for both detached and attached homes in the Coachella Valley’s major cities. In Bermuda Dunes, the average detached home in October was selling at the highest premium of 2.0% over list, followed by Indio with an average premium of 1.8% over list. In the attached home market, the average attached home in Indio in October was selling with an average premium of 3.0% over list, followed by Palm Springs with an average premium of 2.3% over list.
CalDRE# 01898254 | 01896117 | 01991628