LA Crescenta Market Report for April, 2007

The view from the "Balcony of Southern California" is great...a little smoggy, but still great.  Great school scores (they keep going up), nice people, a great place to live and work.

How's the real estate market?  One of my favorite questions.   How do we really know?

I'll explain how I do it:

I measure the overall market with a Market Index, which is composed of key market variables we can measure.  If the Market Index is greater than 1.20, then it's a seller's market.  If it's between 1.20 and 0.80, it's a balanced market.  Below 0.80, it's a buyer's market.  La Crescenta's Market Index at the end of March was 0.53.  At the end of April it was 0.38, a fifteen point drop, or 28%.  If the stock market dropped 28% would you be worried?

Let's look at what makes up the Market Index and see if we can see what type of a market we really have:

Listing going Active during the month of March totaled 52, increasing to 69 in April.  That makes sense, this is spring market, there should be more listings as people prepare to move during the summer.

The listings that went into escrow are Pendings, in March we had 15, in April 14, so we had More listings but Fewer go into escrow.

The Pending RATIO decreased from 29% to 20%, a nine point drop, but percentage-wise over 31%.  That would seem to indicate the market is slowing down-REALLY!

The Total Active Listings in March equaled 106, in April 145, an increase of 37% or 39 additional listings.  That makes sense because fewer are going into escrow, so the inventory is going to increase.

SOLD listing during the month of March totaled 23, in April only 16, a 30% drop in listings sold.  Anytime something goes down 30%, we need to investigate very carefully.

The Days On Market (DOM) to sell those listings were 37 in March, compared to 38 in April.  Truthfully, taking into account re-listed properties the true numbers are probably 30-40% higher, so 37 in March and 38 in April is probably more accurate.  Burbank recently changed it's MLS system, so that April number may not be accurate...

So we can definitely see the inventory increasing, the rate at which homes sell is slowing down, however 57 homes sold, so somebody is buying them.  The truth is that the actual case is as different as the homes and the circumstances of the sale are different.  If you need to sell, the right agent can help you maximize your net.  The wrong agent can cost you thousands, and your home may never sell.

And if you are thinking of buying, now is the chance to get a good deal.

If you have questions you can email me keith@LaCrescentaValleyHomes.com.

Have a great day!

Data collected from iTech and Southwest Regional MLS systems is deemed reliable but has not been verified and is not guaranteed.