November 2010 Price Report

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 November, 2010.
City of La Quinta home sales by month since January 2008*

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

With the arrival of the 2010-2011 season and the passing of the elections, we have noticed a marked improvement in consumer confidence and the seasonal increase of the La Quinta home sales for November after the annual slump in October. Sales showed a marked increase in November over October and has surpassed the same months in 2008 and 2009.  Open escrows in November rose 7.7% which is obviously a good thing and lets us look forward to a strong December.  There has been, in my humble opinion, a dramatic change in Consumer confidence.   Through the summer, buyers have looked at homes and left the impression that they would return when times got better.  Now they seem to be willing to make a move and in fact are making moves.  Prices seem to have stabilized in the under $1,000,000 market and although jumbo loans are not any easier to get, the activity in the $1,000,000 and above market has improved and we are putting some of the higher priced homes under contract. 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.


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) have improved even more than the total with the arrival of the season. The average price per square foot rose 38.6% in November over October’s 14% decline. Historically, October has been a “down” month but this November has showed a 56.3% increase in the average price of the Golf Course home sold in October.

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

La Quinta Inventory:
On November 30, there were 7,059 active listings, 2,288 units in escrow totalling 9,347 units available for sale which makes 24.5% 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:

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 1,248 496 (Nov)

October 10 Price Report

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 October, 2010. 
City of La Quinta home sales by month since January 2008*  

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

As Fall approaches, we see signs of the seasonal increase of the La Quinta home sales for October after what seemed like a very long, hot summer. Sales Showed a marked increase in October over September but only a slight increase over October 2009. were lower in September than August and for the second time since June, 2009, lower than the same month a year earlier. Open escrows in October rose 3.1% which is obviously a good thing not terribly surprising as we move in the seasinal sales cycle. Consumer confidence, which seemed to have turned into a wait and see attitude seems to also be on the rise. Prices seem to be stabilizing in the under $1,000,000 market. Although the above $1,000,000 market has not seen the improvement of the under $1m market, year-to-date sales of $1m+ homes in 2010 amounts to 11.7% of the total as compared to 9.5% for the calendar year of 2009. 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. 

 
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) have improved even more than the total with the arrival of the season. The average price per square foot dropped 14% in October over September’s 2% rise.

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

La Quinta Inventory:
On October 31, there were 5,774 active listings, 1,897 units in escrow totalling 7671 units available for sale which makes 27% 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:

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

1,087

455 (Oct)

 

September 10 Price Report

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 September 2010.


 City of La Quinta home sales since January 2008 

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 the end of the hot summer months approaches, We see a continuing softening of the La Quinta home sales for September. Sales were lower in September than August and for the second time since June, 2009, lower than the same month a year earlier. Open escrows in September dropped 5.8% which is not terribly surprising during the hot summer months but is an indicator of the usual lazy sales for this time of year. 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.



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) have fallen off as expected with the arrival of the summer heat. The average price per square foot dropped 11.5% in August over July’s prices BUT it has come back 2% in September.

Overall, we are still seeing positive signs in the market place. There has been an increase in activity since Labor Day and, hopefully, buyers are getting ready for the upcoming season. 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.

A correction to be made…
Last month I mistakenly interpreted the inventory data to mean that 1,906 units out of the 5,115 Active listings were pending. The 1,906 units were in addition to the 5,115 unit totalling 7,021 active and pending units for sale in the Coachella Valley. That means that only 27% of the total units were were pending.

On September 30, there were 5,233 active listings, 1,825 units in escrow totalling 7058 unit available for sale which makes 25.9% 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:

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 986 422 (Sept)

 

* 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

August 2010 Price Report

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.

La Quinta home sales since January 2008
City of La Quinta home sales since January 2008

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.

Golf Course Real Estate slae in La Quinta
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) 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

June 2010 Price Report

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 June 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*.

The sales for La Quinta in June were the strongest since May, 2006. But… Sales are recorded at the close of escrow and most escrows are 45 – 60 days. As we enter the summer months there has been a 17% drop in open escrows during June over May so we should expect to see a typical seasonal drop in the sales numbers in the next month or so. Last month consumer confidence seemed to follow the stock market into the doldrums as buying activity in June seemed to slow down when compared to May. Personally, our team continues to put non-distressed, “regular” home sales together this year, which has been a welcomed change. Prices have not started to rise, but they 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) are the highest since May of 2008 (one shy) but the average price per square foot dropped 6% from May’s figures. The golf course home numbers have been fluctuating all year so this is not a surprising change and the June numbers were very close to Aprils figures.

Overall, we are still seeing positive signs in the market place. Although prices have not yet stabilized in the higher end (over $1 million), prices seemed to have stabilized in the lower market segments. The mortgage industry is still a stumbling block in the higher end market as it seems that unless you can prove that you don’t need a Jumbo Loan (over $500,000), you can’t get one! 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 5,100. 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 705 317 (June)

* 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.