Month: January 2012

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

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

Open escrows in La Quinta on December 31st decreased over the previous month by 13.3%. This decrease can be explained by the 50.5% increase in unit sales for the month of December reducing the inventory. The number of escrows for the more expensive Golf Properties decreased by 8.1% over the previous month while that demographics unit sales increased by 62.5%. This increase in sales is depleating the valley’s inventory and stabilizing the market pricing.

The number of unit sales within the City were the strongest since June and were the strongest “December” since before 2008. The unit sales in 2011 are the strongest since 2008 showing a 26.5% increase.

The number of “short sales” and “bank owned” properties being offered at reduced prices seem to be remaining at high levels and, athough the banks are very slowly beginning to figure these transactions out, most lenders seem to be dealing more efficiently with the inventory of distressed properties although short sales and/or foreclosures can still be a challenge and they are still affecting the prices in the entire market.

Closed home sales in La Quinta in December showed a 50.5% increase over November. This increase, as you can see in the charts below, is an annual trend attributed to the beginning of our “season”.

Golf Course home sales in La Quinta.

The sales-volume numbers in the higher-end market (which contains many of the golf properties in the chart above) increased 33.3% in December over November. The average price per square foot increased 30.4% in December over November. This shows the affect of fewer short sales and bank owned “deals” that made up a lot of the summer sales.

Overall, we are still seeing positive signs in the market place and even the media seems to be encouraged. We are anticipating a strong season and a good year ahead.

The mortgage industry is the best it’s been for conventional loans but the “jumbo” loans, although becoming more available, continue to be a stumbling block in the higher end market.

Coachella Valley Inventory:
On December 31, there were 5,440 active listings (down 1.4% from November), 2,078 units were in escrow (down 13.5% from November) totaling 7,518 units (down 5.1% from November) available for sale which makes 27.64% of the total in Escrow (down 8.9% from November) –This trend is an indicator of increasing home sales.
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:

* Remember that the sales numbers represent “Closed” escrows. Since the average escrow is between 45 and 60 days, the decision to purchase the homes that closed in June was probably made in March to early April.

Source: DesertAreaMLS