One Billion More - Manhattan Beach Market Update for 12/31/21

The year that was, 2021, was bonkers for local real estate.

One measure: The total amount of money spent on homes in Manhattan Beach rose by nearly $1 billion over the amount spent one year prior.

Total spent on local real estate in 2021 was $3.554 billion, versus $2.563 billion in 2020, just $9 million short of a full $1 billion dollar increase.

Now, it's not as if 2020 was some kind of off year. The first half, sure, with COVID shutdowns hammering the market for several prime weeks. But the market recovered so fast, 2020 concluded with the highest dollar volume ever.

So, to see 2021 beat the new record high by a full billion just underscores what a bananas year it was. (Was it bonkers, or bananas? - Ed.)

Yes, a billion is a lot of bucks, but it's also the percentage change that was record-setting over the past decade.

This new MB Confidential chart shows that only one year came close to the year-over-year change that 2021 brought.

With a 39% increase in dollar volume, 2021 beat 2017's 31% increase, as well as 2020's rise of 19% and 2014's rise of 23%.

Can we just say again... 2020 set the record, and 2021 beat it by 39%!

If you'll take a quick look at both charts over the 2018-19 period, you will see, once again, how the market appeared to have stalled out way-back-when. There remained a very solid level of activity, median price was relatively stable (declining 2% in 2019), but you'll see that dollar volume declined somewhat.

Apparently, what the Manhattan Beach real estate market needed was a global pandemic to get it back to rising again.

How did it all happen?

For one thing, volume, volume, volume. This past year was the first in at least the past 14 years to see more than 500 homes sold within one calendar year.

For another, prices, prices, prices. The median price hit and exceeded $3.0 million in Manhattan Beach for the first time ever in November 2021, and rose more than $50K at year's end. (More on price data in a later post.)

This data sure sets the bar high for 2022, if people want to see any kind of repeat of 2020-21, or a continuation of momentum.

Imagine being an incoming freshman for a college football team that's just won a national championship, all the best players graduating in glory and much of the team opting for the NFL. Sure, the program feels like it has momentum, it's got this great brand, great coaches, happy fan base and all kinds of acclaim. But now you and your fellow underclassmen have to out there and do it all again.

It's not easy. Let's maybe tamp down expectations, and prepare a bit in advance here for how maybe 2022 isn't going to break all the new records all over again.

A little peace, and a smooth landing, would suit most people just fine.

Here's the rest of our local real estate market update report for the period ending 12/31/21:

> 23 active listings as of 12/31/21 (-10 from 12/15/21) 

> 16 SFRs (-7)

> 7 THs (-3)

See the Inventory list as of 12/31/21 here, or see the MB Dashboard for up-to-the-minute data.

Active listings by region of Manhattan Beach in this report:

> Tree Section: 1 actives (-2)

> Sand Section: 14 actives (-2)

> Hill Section: 6 actives (-2)

> East MB: 2 (-4)

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 12/31/21".

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Nerdy note: All data is from the California Regional Multiple Listing Service, INC. InfoSparks © 2021 ShowingTime.