Source: The Desert Sun/6.26.17
Prices and sales climbed in May, with median houses above $300K
ROSALIE MURPHY
THE DESERT SUN
- Coachella Valley home sales and prices climbed again in May, with sales ticking up 1.5 percent year over year and prices jumping 8.5 percent.
- There were 1,048 home sales recorded in May, according to data from real estate research firm CoreLogic DataQuick. Homes fetched a median price of $320,000.
- Median home prices have remained well above $300,000 all year, after hovering in the $290,000s in spring 2016 and around $300,000 as the year ended. Price growth slowed slightly in May, however, after double-digit increases in March and April. “Even though inventory dropped slightly in May, sales have shown a steady increase since last May and it looks that sales will continue to stay on that path,” Diana Bernardi, president of the California Desert Association of Realtors, said in a statement. “With interest rates still low, real estate is always considered one of the best long-term investments.”
- The Realtors association counted 3,356 houses and 1,552 condos on the market in May, a drop of about 16.5 percent year over year.
- Within the valley, Indian Wells led prices, with homes selling for a median of $225 per square foot in May. The valleywide median was $180 per square foot, a dip from April but up 5.4 percent from May 2016.
- Across the state, the median home sold for $550,200, up 5.8 percent year over year, according to the California Association of Realtors.
- Sales rose 2.6 percent from May 2016 to May 2017, and skyrocketed in the Inland Empire — sales in Riverside and San Bernardino County jumped 9 percent year over year, faster than the Bay Area or Los Angeles.
- It took a median of just 22 days to sell a home in May, according to the California Association of Realtors.
- “Despite a solid performance thus far in the spring housing market, the continued mismatch between buyers and available homes for sale that’s driving up home prices remains an issue,” California Association of Realtors Senior Vice President and Chief Economist Leslie Appleton-Young said in a statement.
- “Stubbornly low supply levels will continue to propel prices higher and, when combined with imminently higher interest rates, will worsen an already dismal affordability situation in the housing market,” she added.
- Rosalie Murphy covers real estate and business at The Desert Sun. Reach her at rosalie.murphy@desertsun.com or on Twitter at @rozmurph.