PRICES: The median price of a detached home in the Coachella Valley ended May at $695,000, down just .7% year over year. This is a very small decline, and the market continues to hold the price gains of the last five months. The median attached price rose $5,000 in May to end at $485,000. This is the third month of strong price growth, and the current price is only 1.2% below last May’s record price of $491,056. Just like last month, every city but Desert Hot Springs has a year over year price decline in its average size detached home. The declines range from -2.2% for La Quinta to -14.7% for Indian Wells. Desert Hot Springs is unchanged. Price changes in the attached market have a broader range, which goes from 18.5% in Desert Hot Springs to -10.1% in Indio.
SALES: The three-month average of sales rose again this month to 769 units a month from 665 last month. Some of this is seasonal but a lot is due to a general recovery in the market. It’s occurring in both the detached and attached market. We project a return to normal sales by the end of the year. This is based on the current trend of recovery, plus our belief that mortgage rates will return to 5.5%.
INVENTORY & “MONTHS OF SALES” RATIOS: On June 1st inventory was 1,867 units, which is only nine units less than last month. Inventory has effectively remained unchanged for the last eight months. The primary reason inventory isn’t growing is because low sales have been evenly matched with low new listings. Valley inventory also has a seasonal pattern and if it continues, we expect the number will begin to contract as we move into summer. On June 1st the Valley’s “months of sales” ratio was 3.2 months, which is 0.1 month higher than last month but almost two months greater than last year.
The housing market is much stronger than many think. Contact us for a free, no-obligation market valuation of your home, today!