In the month that was, April 2023, we saw 26 listings come to market, and 25 properties go into escrow.
This nearly 1-to-1 absorption rate prevented the overall level of inventory from growing much (+1 for the month, to 58). The city continues to have an almost chronic shortage of homes for sale, amid an…
In the month that was, April 2023, we saw 26 listings come to market, and 25 properties go into escrow.
This nearly 1-to-1 absorption rate prevented the overall level of inventory from growing much (+1 for the month, to 58). The city continues to have an almost chronic shortage of homes for sale, amid an environment that has rapidly turned in sellers' favor.
Of course, with fewer homes available overall, the number of new escrows is pretty low for an April, with the exception of early-pandemic-impacted April 2020.
Things were actually much tighter at this time last year, with just 34 listings hanging on the market at the end of both March and April. Where you saw 33 new deals inked in April 2022, you were similarly seeing absorption 1-to-1 also, with nothing hanging around long, it seemed.
Seeing one home sold for every new listing to hit the market appears to be healthy for this time of year. And remember, early 2023 is nothing like early 2022. People then didn't quite know that the free-money frenzy driving real estate was about to end.
To get a sense of the market vibe entering April 2022, we took a look back to our end-of-March market update from 2022. There, we noted that interest rates were beginning to spike, and that the impact on the market was "TBD," although higher rates seemed obviously to pose a challenge to prices. We were concerned at the time because a typical 30-year mortgage had shot up from the 3% range to over 4%.
Oh, what quaint worries back then!
Narrator voice: There was another 3% rise still to come.
After spiking to the 7s and hanging in the 6s awhile, nowadays, rates have stabilized in the 5s, it appears – we'll write it down, and check back later – while some are concerned about banks.
In March, Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank (NY) were seized and sold, and this week, First Republic has failed and was sold to JPMorgan Chase. (Pictured here is Manhattan Beach's own branch of First Republic, not yet rebranded.)
True story: One of our colleagues closed a purchase on Friday, April 28, with First Republic, shortly before the institution was seized and sold.
Talk about living on the edge. Every home purchase or sale process seems to have some existential challenge, some great problem to be solved. As we like to say, "into every escrow a little rain must fall." (Here's our brief Instagram Reel on the topic.)
But imagine being in escrow and wondering (with good reason!) about the very solvency of your lending institution, right up till the 11th hour and almost through closing. Yikes!
So, is there a banking crisis? Is there one coming? Does it threaten the housing market?
Or are the recent failures somewhat more isolated cases, where it was just some management decisions and fairly unique customer bases that put a couple of banks under extreme pressure?
The bulls and bears are tussling over those questions, with so many seeming to want to believe the "isolated cases" interpretation. Meanwhile, the year's outlook is also dependent on whether the Fed is done raising rates this year.
By and large, today's home buyers don't seem troubled. Multiple offers are back.
Here are just a few of the latest new deals in MB:
2300 John (5br/4ba, 4634 sqft.), asking $4.699M and in escrow in 9 days.
2200 John (4br/4ba, 3801 sqft.), asking $4.250M in in escrow at 11 days.
337 7th (4br/5ba, 4500 sqft.), asking $7.999M, in escrow at 9 days.
225 Rosecrans Place (3br/3ba, 2068 sqft.), in escrow at 6 days, originally asking $2.399M, but look out above! (See "Ever Try 'Auction' Pricing?")
You can always catch all the latest comings-and-goings on The Ticker or the MB Dashboard.
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Here's the rest of our local real estate market update report for the period ending 4/15/23:
> 58 active listings as of 4/30/23 (+13 from 4/15/23)
> 47 SFRs (+10)
> 11 THs (+3)
See the Inventory list as of 4/30/23 here, or see the MB Dashboard for up-to-the-minute data.
Active listings by region of Manhattan Beach in this report:
> Tree Section: 10 actives (+4)
> Sand Section: 25 actives (+4)
> Hill Section: 11 actives (+3)
> East MB: 12 actives (+2)
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 4/30/23".
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.