A common discussion we'll have with potential sellers – and we're having more of those these days (green shoots!) – is about the best times of year to list a home for sale locally.
In sum: (1) Spring is best, (2) September/October's usually good, (3) skip the Summer if you can, and (4) November-January, ugh!
The "ugh" there is mainly about how slow-paced the market usually is around and after Thanksgiving. For good reason: People have other things on their minds, including travel.
The first half of December most commonly sees a single-digit number of new escrows in Manhattan Beach. The second half is even more likely to see fewer than 10 deals citywide.
Busy Spring months can see 20-30 sales or more in a given 2-week period, by contrast.
Which brings us to 2023. Folks, there were just 6 new escrows in the first half of December this year, but it's really not worth worrying about.
That past two years saw 5 new deals in the same period, so this year was actually "better." From 2016-18, the totals were 6, 6 and 7. Three of the 4 years out of the prior decade which saw double-digit new deals had only 10; the high was 14 in... 2014. (Easy to remember!)
So a piddling pace of purchases now is not particularly perturbing.
Curiously, of the 6 listings that did make deals, half were dirt (click address for full details, including listing broker):
400 5th offers an original, double-wide lot, with 5516 total sqft. of land on a formerly sleepy South End walkstreet.
There's often a premium to get a little more land. Here, they priced the property at $7.699M, the equivalent of $3.849M each for two separate lots. In less than 10 days, there was a deal.
1417 21st presents a full-size (7500 sqft.) lot in the Meadows/Manhattan Heights area. The property appeared on the MLS immediately in escrow, evidently with a sale arranged before market. The list price is $2.250M.
1806 6th is another 7500 sqft. East MB lot, but this one's out on the perimeter of the Mira Costa district. It came out asking $1.850M and needed a few weeks to make a deal.
... while the rest were move-in ready, but all smallish:
2905 Palm (3br/2ba, 1611 sqft.) is a Tree Section remodel, last asking $2.699M.
232 30th Place (4br/4ba, 2039 sqft.) is a recent major remodel in a modern style with views, asking $4.349M.
593 26th (3br/4ba, 2110 sqft.) is a sorta small, stylish home near Grand View. It was acquired just last year, in Sept. '22, for $3.470M, and had most recently cut to $3.575M in this year's attempt to resell.
Slow Pace Year-Long Means '23 Will End with Record-Low Sales
For sure, 2023 will go down as having the fewest closed sales in recent memory. We had only 248 closings from Jan. 1-Dec. 15, 2023. It's unlikely we'll end much over 260 for the year.
A typical year in MB ends near or over 400 sales. The lowest-ever years of the past 15 were 2008 (316) and 2009 (355). Arguably, this year is about 35% off-pace for total sales.
In those prior bust years, fewer people were buying. This year, fewer people are selling.
And yet, this year, we closed a sale in Manhattan Beach in the first half of December, at 601 13th St. (4br/2ba, 2037 sqft.), right near downtown.
Though prep for the home took a bit longer than hoped, and we didn't get to market until late October, we never worried too much. The downtown-adjacent location and ocean views made it more likely than not that a buyer would jump – and one did.
The property was under contract at 5 DOM, and sold $25K over asking at $2,725,000.
We also sold the neighboring home, 533 13th, in March, for $2.225M.
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Here's the rest of our local real estate market update report for the period ending 12/15/23:
> 68 active listings as of 11/30/23 (-2 from 11/15/23)
> 47 SFRs (-5)
> 21 THs (+3)
See the Inventory list as of 12/15/23 here, or see the MB Dashboard for up-to-the-minute data.
Active listings by region of Manhattan Beach in this report:
> Tree Section: 13 actives (-5)
> Sand Section: 35 actives (+2)
> Hill Section: 5 actives (-2)
> East MB: 15 actives (+3)
We're also providing a report on closed sales by region of MB.
Sales data, including PPSF for all properties, are organized by sub-region of Manhattan Beach.
Here's a link to the spreadsheet: "MB Pending/Sold as of 12/15/23".
Please see our blog disclaimer.
Listings presented above are supplied via the MLS and are brokered by a variety of agents and firms, not Dave Fratello or Edge Real Estate Agency, unless so stated with the listing. Images and links to properties above lead to a full MLS display of information, including home details, lot size, all photos, and listing broker and agent information and contact information.
