Manhattan Beach Walkstreet

What a difference a week can make. Had I posted Beach Cities: Sold July 2007 figures the first week in August I would have said that rates were low and the market was chugging along although at a slow rate. That was before August 4 and the collapse of American Home Mortgage and a number of other lenders.

Who would have thought Countrywide would possibly be on the verge of bankruptcy or that the FED might seriously be considering bailing them out. While I think Angelo Mozilo is a bit smarmy I also realize it would be a disaster if they went into bankruptcy at this time. They make 1 out of every 6 loans in the country so you can see what their demise would do to the fragile credit market. Brian Brady wrote an excellent post on The Bloodhound Blog about the problems with Countrywide going down in this market. It's worth a read.

At this time jumbo loans are hovering around 7%-8% depending on the lender and the amount of points. Lenders are dropping like flies as they succumb to the woes of the subprime market. It will be a few weeks before the dust clears and rates settle down after much hand wringing and blame tossed around by the major players.

Buyers with FICO scores over 720 with money for a downpayment who have jobs where they can document their incomes will be in high demand. While I suspect there will still be stated income loans the regulations on them will be significantly tighter. Sellers will need to pay a lot more attention to a buyer's qualifications when choosing the best offer to accept for their property.

Real estate in Redondo Beach held up better then the other beach cities last month.  Sales were close to those in June and inventory is also holding steady.  Manhattan Beach was looking very slow but sales finally picked up toward the end of the month.  However a majority of the home sales in Manhattan Beach were  $2 million or less which may mean buyers are pulling back a bit until they determine where the market is headed.

Beach Cities: Sold July 2007 (click on graph to enlarge)
South Bay-Beach Cities: Sold July 2006

South Bay-Beach Cities: Sold June 2007
South Bay-Beach Cities: Sold May 2007
South Bay-Beach Cities: Sold April 2007
South Bay-Beach Cities: Sold March 2007
South Bay-Beach Cities: Sold February 2007
SouthBay-Beach Cities: Sold January 2007

 

All content copyrighted@ 2007 Kaye Thomas