All Blog Entries by Dave Fratello

In a big surprise, this is a new construction debut weekend.

Who doesn't like new homes? See our writeups below and this week's video for previews of 4 brand new builds, 3 in the Sand.

But if that's not enough to keep you busy, there's a ton to do this weekend in and around MB:

Saturday: Volleyball at the pier, the 4D Fours Volleyball Tournament, a benefit supporting subsidized healthy heart screenings and the college funds of the four daughters of Clint Clausen, who founded the former Manhattan Beach restaurant Four Daughters Kitchen, but died of a sudden heart attack in 2014 at age 44. More at DigMB.com.

Sunday: The "Jimmy" - the Jimmy Miller Memorial Foundation Surf Fiesta, supporting the Jimmy Miller Memorial Foundation Ocean Therapy…

With our last deep dive into the data, maybe we "left you hanging" a bit.

If you were reading closely and for comprehension (hey, our favorite kind of reader!), then you noticed that our last post left something of an open question.

In that post ("Q3 Stats: New Inventory a Bit Slower Than '16"), summarizing third-quarter inventory stats for Manhattan Beach for 5 years, we asked:

"[W]as inventory holding high [in the 3rd quarter] because there were more sellers coming to market?" 

We answered: No. (With data.) 

So, what was it?

If inventory wasn't high/rising due to more new inventory coming out, then there's only one good explanation left...

Fewer sales. Yep.

Specifically, fewer homes went into escrow in Manhattan Beach during the…

We're watching the market closely here, as we head into the Fall months and the traditionally slower holiday season.

Inventory of homes for sale in Manhattan Beach was higher throughout September than it was for any of the past 5 years.

So, we asked, was inventory holding high because there were more sellers coming to market?

The data said: No, there were not more new listings in 2017 than over the same 3-month period of 2016.

For this post, we dove into the data and looked at 5 years' worth of inventory coming to market. We looked at the entire third quarter (July 1-Sept. 30) for each of the years 2013-2017.

It was 2016 that set a recent record, with 135 new listings coming to market in those 3 months.

Meanwhile, 2017 was 9% below that…

It's "fair" to say that this weekend is not a busy open-house weekend. 

The number of open houses is down by almost half to 27 listings, while the number of booths at Live Oak Park offering food, games and goldfish prizes is way, way up this weekend.

(Photo credit: Brooke Tuppan, via DigMB's photo contest in 2015.)

Our video this week captures not only the public opens but two on-market listings that are not open (a South End custom beauty at 549 3rd and modern remodel at 129 8th) plus an off-market walkstreet listing at 417 5th.

Ask Dave to see any of these homes.

Here's our video:

Email subscribers and some mobile users will need to use this link to view the video.

To plan your open-house tours for this week, use MB…