Residential Real Estate Plateau in Southern California

Southern California’s residential real estate market has hit a plateau, easing fears of another spike in housing prices and signaling a return to a more normal market. Residential housing prices have remained unchanged for almost 4 months now, with the median price of $383,750 last month. The median, however, is still up a shocking 26.4% since August 2012.

A smaller supply of available homes did cause a spike in the price of homes earlier this year, but as the demand has diminished, the number of buyers has tapered off as well. However, don’t be alarmed.  “A slowdown in the last quarter is normal and reflects the seasonality of the market,” says Jeff Meyers, President of Meyers Research.

The Los Angeles Times reports, “September data confirmed expert predictions that waning demand would throw a wet blanket over the white-hot market.” The stall is owed to multiple factors: buyer fatigue over skyrocketing prices, higher mortgage rates, an expanding supply of homes and a pullback by investors who had swarmed the market. According to our own research, the last 6 months of median existing home prices for L.A. are listed below:

April:  $480,000

May:  $489,000

June:  $495,000

July:  $500,000

August:  $485,000

September:  $465,000

The last 6 months of days on market for L.A. are listed below:

April:  97

May:  92

June:  91

July:  88

August:  87

September:  88

Relief that the real estate market is normalizing is sweeping Southern California, but the new normalized market after years of upheaval could take some getting used to, says The Press-Enterprise. “After the real estate boom of 2004 through 2007 and the subsequent collapse, many people don’t remember what a stable market looks like in the Inland area.”

How will the housing market change affect your house-hunting decisions?