According to this Desert Sun article by Rosalie Murphy, October's home sales numbers in the Coachella Valley looked a lot like last year's, according to data from real estate research firm CoreLogic DataQuick, with 743 homes sold in the desert, down just 1.2 percent from a year ago.  However, prices climbed to a median of $289,000, up more than 9 percent from a year ago.  New homes fetched a median price of $399,000 — almost 24 percent higher than last year.

In addition, residential real estate firms plan to open at least seven offices across the desert this season: Windermere Homes and Estates will have at least two locations before summer, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices will add two offices and HOM-Sotheby's has already opened one new site.

Leaskou Partners, a brokerage in Palm Springs, announced Thursday that it will join Seattle's Windermere Real Estate and open three new desert offices in the coming months.

In a statement issued Wednesday, CoreLogic research analyst Andrew LePage said some of the largest price increases have happened in the region's most affordable markets. Further, construction of new homes is still well below historical levels, and most of what's being built is priced for the middle or top end of the market — squeezing first-time and lower-income homebuyers.

The desert’s cheapest homes in October were in the 92241 zip code of Desert Hot Springs, where they sold for a median price of $146,000, or just $94 per square foot.

The most expensive purchases came in Indian Wells, where homes sold for a median price of $456,250, or $197 per square foot.

Desert home sales in October 2015:

  • Total sales: 743, down 1.2 percent from 2014
  • New construction sales: 68, up 1.5 percent from 2014
  • Resale single family homes: 478, up 1.1 percent from 2014
  • Resale condos: 197, down 7.1 percent from 2014
  • Median price: $289,000, up 9.1 percent from 2014
  • Median price per square foot: $166, up 8.3 percent from 2014

Please use the following link to read the article, courtesy of The Desert Sun:  http://www.desertsun.com/story/money/real-estate/2015/11/20/october-2015-corelogic-dataquick/76020724/