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 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, green lines represent 2011 data and the purple lines represent 2012 data.
Open escrows in La Quinta on January 31st increased over the previous month by 17.9%. This increase can be explained by the decrease in unit sales for the month of January over December, increasing the inventory. The number of escrows for the more expensive Golf Properties increased by 10.3% over the previous month while that demographics unit sales decreased. This decrease in sales is allowing the valley’s inventory to grow slightly and helps stabilize the market pricing.
The number of unit sales within the City were less than December but were the strongest “January” since before 2008. This strong January will hopefully be the beginning of a strong season.
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 January showed a 25.5% decrease from the month of December. This decrease, 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) decreased 32.7% in January over December. The average price per square foot decreased 2.8% in January over December. 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 the media continues 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 January 31, there were 5,475 active listings (up 0.6% from December), 2,371 units were in escrow (up 14.1% from December) totaling 7,846 units (up 4.4% from December) available for sale which makes 30.22% of the total in Escrow (up 9.3% from December) –This trend is an indicator of increasing home sales for the month of January.
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:
| Year | All | LQ Golf Course |
| 2002 | 1,354 | 259 |
| 2003 | 1,565 | 652 |
| 2004 | 1,931 | 813 |
| 2005 | 1,553 | 657 |
| 2006 | 1,098 | 491 |
| 2007 | 935 | 447 |
| 2008 | 1,063 | 416 |
| 2009 | 1,155 | 418 |
| 2010 | 1,355 | 530 |
| 2011 | 1,446 | 520 |
| 2012 YTD | 102 | 35 |
* 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