All Blog Entries by Dave Fratello

It's hard to give much more of an up-to-the-moment look at the market than we did with our stats & analysis just the other day, but we do owe you a mid-November report as well.

One data point we check in on is the number of new escrows inked during each 2-week period.

You won't be surprised to hear that early November 2022 was pretty weak, but the good (??) news is that it's pretty common at this time of year for the market to slow notably.

"It's OK, honey, I hear this happens to a lot of early Novembers."

We recorded just 8 new escrows in Manhattan Beach in the first half of this month. That's down from 2021 (13) and 2020 (of course! 21) and also 2019 (14).

But then look at 2018: just 9 new deals. Or 2016 (8). Even 2014 and 2015 weren't so

For a couple years there, no one could get enough of Manhattan Beach real estate.

Low rates drove a real estate market surge everywhere, but there was something extra special here.

The onetime buying frenzy has vanished now, with a steep dropoff in sales citywide. What goes up, apparently must come down.

Home sales year-to-date in Manhattan Beach are now below 2009's totals. From Jan. 1-Nov. 15, we've seen 289 sales close. In 2009, the total for the same period was 293.

As we've joked before, if you're a real estate statistic, you do not want to be compared to a 2009 stat. Yikes.

Now let's look at the surge, recent drop, and then some signs of hope for a better 2023.

2020's Rocket Rise

First, the 2020-22 surge and drop.

We're…

There is something nearly uniform about all 4 listings new to market this week.

All are priced substantially below where similar offerings might have sold earlier this year. (If that sounds to you like the theme of our recent market update video, then bravo, you were paying attention.)

In fact, 3 of these 4 listings were on the market already for stretches this year, at higher prices, with different agents. We're sure everyone thought they had gamed out the market right, but conditions shifted while the homes were listed. (Does that sound like a fun experience? It's not fun.)

The last one here is an East Manhattan lot sale asking $2.000M, when we have seen lots in the same area go as high as $2.400M this year.

Open house times are listed…

November can get chilly, this year in particular.

So what kinds of homes are selling?

For the first 10 days of November, it's been sub-$2M listings and others in the 2's.

(Wait, what? There are sub-$2M listings in Manhattan Beach?)

Yep. See more below.

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Below, we present listings in the Manhattan Beach market, via the MLS. They are listed and brokered by a variety of agents and firms. The name of the listing broker and agent for each property, along with any contact information supplied through the MLS, is displayed with each property, next to the price. Blog author Dave Fratello of Edge Real Estate Agency is not the listing agent unless so stated with the listing.

Click on any property address…