Redondo Beach: Golden Hills
What a difference a few weeks can make. Overall sales have slowed in all the Beach Cities as buyers adjust to new lending rules and sellers grapple with how those changes will affect potential buyers for their homes. Buyers will continue to find qualifying more difficult then in previous months. Sellers will also have to acknowledge the fact that a smaller buyer pool will translate to lower prices... but that doesn't mean the market is going to crash. Ultimately more sensible lending will translate to a far more stable market which is a good thing for all parties.
The big news today is the FED cutting both the funds rate and the discount rate. It will be interesting to see how Jumbo mortgage rates fare with the cuts over the next few weeks. If the rate cuts do nothing more then calm the credit markets it will be welcome.
The threat of foreclosures seems to occupy most of the media with story after story about the number of problems facing the California home market. However a little article in the Sunday LATimes titled Good Mortgage Statistics paints a slightly different picture. In California it seems that among prime borrowers... which should be most of the Beach Cities borrowers.. delinquency rates are only 1.9%... This might explain why we haven't seen a lot of foreclosures or short sales in the Beach Cities. I know we will have our share but believe we will fare better then other cities as most buyers in our area were not speculators and bought a home for their personal use. Most also had good jobs, decent credit and some money for a down payment.
We are seeing an increase in inventory levels although inventory is lower then at this time last year. There are a lot of buyers in the market but they continue to be very choosy about homes and what they will pay. I think you can expect to see prices continue to dip slightly or remain very flat as buyers who qualify under the current financing rules now seem to be in the drivers seat.
Beach Cities: August Sold 2007
South Bay-Beach Cities: August SOLD 2006
South Bay- Beach Cities: July Sold 2007
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
South Bay-Beach Cities: Sold January 2007
All content copyrighted@ 2007 Kaye Thomas
;)
;)
