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 August 2010.
The blue lines represent 2008 data, the orange lines represent 2009 data and the magenta lines represent 2010 data.
The chart above shows monthly sales of homes within the city of La Quinta*.
As is typical of the hot summer months, the La Quinta home sales for August were lower than July and for the first time since June, 2009, lower than the same month a year earlier. Open escrows in August dropped 6% which is not terribly surprising during the hot summer months but is an indicator of the usual lazy sales for the next few months. Consumer confidence, which seemed to have steadied in the previous few months has turned into a wait and see attitude leading up to the November Mid-term elections. Prices seem to be stabilizing in the under $1,000,000 market. The above $1,000,000 market has not seen the improvement of the under $1m market but this is likely due to the unavailability of jumbo loans. 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.
The sales-volume numbers in the higher-end market (which contains many of the golf properties in the chart above) have fallen off as expected with the arrival of the summer heat. The average price per square foot has dropped 11.5% over July’s prices.
Overall, we are still seeing positive signs in the market place. People on the street that we talk to believe that prices have bottomed out. The mortgage industry is the best it’s ever been for conventional loans but the “jumbo” loans continue to be a stumbling block in the higher end market. The bottom line is that at the beginning of the downturn in 2006, there were over 10,000 homes available for sale in the Coachella Valley – a real glut. Currently, that number is down to under 5,115 with 1,906 (37%) of those currently under contract. As the supply dwindles, the market begins to stabilize and people feel more comfortable to get back into the marketplace.
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 YTD | 914 | 390 (August) |
* When looking at “sold” data, you have to remember that the numbers are generated on the date that the sale is recorded with the county but that the decision to buy was made about 45 – 60 days earlier.
Figures are from the Desert Area MLS