In my continuing effort to educate and inform consumers and prospective buyers here in Los Angeles & Ventura counties about our local market, I want to continue with the next series in my local reports: the Coastal Communities in northern Ventura County.
The Coastal Communities in northern Ventura County encompasses numerous cities (Channel Islands, El Rio, LaConchita, Meiners Oaks, Mira Monte, Oak View, Ojai, Oxnard, Point Mugo, Port Hueneme, Ventura). This area is located along the Pacific Coast Hwy and north along the 33 freeway just south of the Los Padres Mountains.
Using the same price range of $417k as I did in previous local reports, when working with prospective buyers in the Coastal Communities of northern Ventura County, the homes in this price range are mostly modest three and four bedroom homes averaging approx. 1,500 sq. ft. in size, which are about the same size as the average home in this price in neighboring Santa Rosa Valley.
Last year, the average sales price for the price range of 417k<, in the Coastal Communities in northern Ventura County was $295k; this year, the average sales price is $294k, which is less than a 1% drop in prices.
The bright spot here in the Coastal Communities of northern Ventura County is that the number of sales this year is up. In reviewing the sales for the past 90 days for this price range because this is the timeframe that lenders and their appraisers often look at when determining property values, the number of property sales in the Coastal Communities of northern Ventura County has increased more than 3% from the number of sales last year and that can be attributed to the continued affordability of this area.
However, the issue of more sales here in the Coastal Communities in northern Ventura County is not necessarily the the result of more inventory though, which is reflected in the areas absorption rates. The absorption rate is the number of months it would take to sell the properties that are currently listed on the market.
The current rate of absorption for the Coastal Communities of northern Ventura County is less than 3, which means based on the average amount of sales per month, there is less than three months of inventory on the market. The absorption rate for the Coastal Communities for northern Ventura County has actually been declining for the past year now.
A stable market would be an inventory of about six months or an absorption rate of six. Therefore, reduced inventory indicates a seller’s market and an increase in the competition between buyers for many of the prime properties. Consequently, this scenario generates bidding wars and actually drives prices up, which is also not a sign of a buyer’s market.
For much of the past 12mon, the absorption rate remained very low with less than three months of inventory with the last 90 days dropping at a rate twice as fast as previous months. This has less to do with less inventory in new listings and actually more to do with more average sales per month, which is very common in this area during the summer months.
In the Coastal Communities of northern Ventura County, the average sales price vs list price (SP% vs LP%) is approx. 97%, which is unchanged from this time last year. While the avg SP% vs LP% for financed properties (99%) is slightly higher than the SP% vs LP% for cash sales (96%). Although the lowest cash sale was 62% of list price, it was priced accordingly to it's condition (it was a total dump fixer), many of them were at list or near list and many were actually higher.
Here in the Coastal Communities, a whopping 51% of all properties were at list price or higher. For buyers looking to purchase a nice looking property in the low-end of the market here, chances of you having to make a full price offer or higher are highly likely, unless of course, you have a boatload of cash.
Here in the Coastal Communities in northern Ventura County, the practice of many listing agents to intentionally list property below market value simply for the purpose of generating bidding wars in order to get higher than list offers is very prominent.
Based on this practice the average SP% vs LP% for those offers at list or higher is 102.02%. Oddly enough though, unlike any other area I have reported on so far where financed offers were the highest percentage of higher priced sales, here in the Coastal Commnities in northern Ventura County, cash sales were the highest percentage of over list sales at 105.09%. This means that cash buyers are generally paying more than buyers with a loan.
Having said that though, cash is not necessarily king here in the Coastal Communities of northern Ventura County. Based on recent sales for the past 90 days, financed sales are still the majority types of sales. Because the Coastal Communities of northern Ventura County has several large naval bases, the increase in VA and/or CalVet sales was of no surprise.
Lastly, while REOs and short sales combined still remain to be a majority of sales here in the Coastal Communities of northern Ventura County, equity sales has remained relatively the same from 2010 to 2011. This may be an indication that the market here in the Coastal Communities is still struggling to stabilize.
In summary, while the Coastal Communities here in northern Ventura County we’re not really a lowball buyer’s market. Buyers who want to purchase a nice looking, halfway decent property here are not only going to have to compete for it with other buyers but they're also going to have to probably pay close to list price or more for it.
Even at these prices though, it's still a deal. If you're looking for a really cheap property at 15% below market or more, you need to be prepared to buy a fixer and you best have a whole lot of cash too.
Today's real estate market can be really scary, which is why it's important to get as much information as possible before starting your search. The pre-approval process is not a simple process and it's because it can get really complicated and convoluted, that borrowers today need affordable loan options that are best suited for their own needs. For more info on affordable home loan options, contact me, Donne Knudsen from C2 Financial Corp. at 805.2069123 or donne4loans@earthlink.net.
Other Local Reports for Los Angeles & Ventura counties:
LOCAL REPORT: Conejo Valley, CA
LOCAL REPORT: Santa Clarita Valley
LOCAL REPORT: San Fernando Valley (West)
LOCAL REPORT: Santa Rosa Valley (Ventura County)
LOCAL REPORT: San Fernando Valley (SCentral)
LOCAL REPORT: San Fernando Valley (NCentral)
LOCAL REPORT: San Fernando Valley (East)
LOCAL REPORT: Downtown Los Angeles
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