Month: March 2011

Here are the latest sales numbers for all homes sold within the City of La Quinta as well as all Golf Course homes in La Quinta through February, 2011.

City of La Quinta home sales by month since February, 2008*

The blue lines represent 2008 data, the orange lines represent 2009 data magenta lines represent 2010 and the green lines represent 2011 data.

February marks a rebound to the two previous months of declining sales numbers, we continue to see a marked improvement in consumer confidence and an increase in interest in the “over $1 million” market.  Open escrows in February increased overall by 7.2% while the more expensive Golf Properties increased by 11.5% after an increase in January.  I believe that, as the economic recovery gathers momentum, buyers are aware that Interest rates will also start to increase which makes “now” a great time to buy a home.  Closed home sales in the 28 days in February showed a 39.8% increase over the 31 days of January and made February the best month in La Quinta since June of 2010. The general attitude of the people we talk to at open houses is that the market has hit the bottom and that is backed up by current prices versus historical appreciation.  Also, the slight increase in mortgage interest rates may have added some urgency to our industry.

Golf Course home sales in La Quinta.

Like the overall sales numbers above, the sales-volume numbers in the higher-end market (which contains many of the golf properties in the chart above) also took a significant 93.1% jump in February. The average price per square foot only increased 2.5% in February over January.

Overall, we are still seeing positive signs in the market place.  There has been a steady increase in activity since Labor Day and more noticeably since the beginning of November.　The mortgage industry is the best it’s ever been for conventional loans but the “jumbo” loans, although becoming more available, continue to be a stumbling block in the higher end market.

La Quinta Inventory:
On February 28, there were 7,023 active listings, 2,439 units in escrow totaling 9,462 units available for sale which makes 25.78% of the total in Escrow.
If buying property is something on your list (especially golf property), why not take advantage of the incredible prices and seller incentives now, when sellers will work with you, instead of in the future, when the demand starts to catch up with the supply? Especially if you’re buying and planning to hold for 5+ years.

Here are some yearly sales figures (units) for the City of La Quinta from 2002: