Is the local real estate market improving?

Inventory Report Long BeachInventory report Long Beach  Good afternoon everyone,

This is interesting to review this Month. If you notice there are 923 Active listings in Long Beach and 692 Pending/Backup. Inventory appears to be quietly creeping upward and according to the graph as of today we have more homes available for sale than we have had since May 2009 when there were 999 Active listings. 

Additionally, the 692 Pending/Backups represent the lowest amount of transactions in escrow since April 2009 when there were 674 Pending/Backup.

Lakewood’s numbers look similar with the inventory of available homes for sale showing a recent high of 141 Active and available. This is the highest we have seen since March 2009 when there were 151 properties available for sale. The Pending/Backups of 134 also represent a recent low since April 2009 when there were 129 P/B (although LW has remained fairly consistent with approximately 100 homes going into escrow every month since 2008.

What does all of this mean?

It could be cyclical/seasonal and due to the fact that there are typically fewer people purchasing properties and therefore less transactions during the Holiday season and as a result we are seeing a dip now.

Or it could show that more REO’s are hitting the marketplace as we have anticipated, most of the REO agents I have talked with have seen just a slight uptick in their assignments.

This is a far cry from the bleak 4^th quarter of 2007 when we had only 231 properties in escrow and a glutton of 2,113 properties available for sale in Long Beach.

However, the reality is that these numbers show a significant spike (upward) in available properties for sale, REO’s/short sales and/or regular transactions (or I should say non regular in today’s world), and while this is exactly what we need right now in our market place (more inventory), fewer transactions in escrow is NOT a trend we want to continue to see. Frankly, I don’t anticipate seeing P/B declining further and feel confident that this is in fact seasonal.

Remember “shifts” occur several times per year, sometimes they are extreme and hit hard and fast and other times they are slight, of course we also want to remember that these graphs are somewhat “global” and pockets and/or price ranges are not taken into consideration.

These trends are something we should stay on top of and keep a very close eye on moving forward so that you can continue to provide your clients with cutting edge information be the local economist in your area and capitalize on the opportunities in front of you!

Thank-you and make it a great weekend!!

Michael Simpson

p.s. Jessica Anaya, thank-you for continuing to provide these reports for all of us, you’re The BEST!