If you were counting on low inventory to squeeze buyers and boost prices this year, maybe reconsider your bet.
Inventory for mid-February is above 2016 levels, at 75 as of midday Feb. 15. The total was 70 in 2016. (The photo here shows 3612 Alma [$2.495M], the 75th/newest listing.)
Yes, this is a big step…
If you were counting on low inventory to squeeze buyers and boost prices this year, maybe reconsider your bet.
Inventory for mid-February is above 2016 levels, at 75 as of midday Feb. 15. The total was 70 in 2016. (The photo here shows 3612 Alma [$2.495M], the 75th/newest listing.)
Yes, this is a big step down from 2017's 93 at this point, but still well above the average in the 40s during 2013-15.
If you want to compare year-over-year, this month's jump of 22 active listings from Feb. 1-Feb. 15 is a bit bigger than last year's jump of 19 listings from Feb. 1-Feb. 15, 2017. A post-Super Bowl flowering has been substantial.
Remember that last year ended, and this year began, with a seeming crash and contraction in inventory (Dave, don't say "crash!") that led to some speculation that this might be a "lower inventory year."
Well, yes, we're below 20% below the inventory as of Feb. 15, 2017, but not "low" by most other standards during this cycle, dating back to at least 2013. Maybe you don't expect the bulge of 2017 inventory to repeat, but this market is not "tight," comparatively.
Worth noting: There were more homes for sale at this time in 2012, but the market heated up fast that year and inventory was eaten up by April, commencing a 4-year period of chronically low inventory.
The big difference this year from 2017: 8 fewer listings in the Sand Section today. The balance of the difference was split among other areas.
Still, at 37 listings, the Sand currently plays host to almost half the home listings in town. And it's not half the housing stock in Manhattan Beach.
We always like to look at a couple of recent, notable sales. One is definitely 2208 Wendy (3br/3ba, 1800 sqft.), a smashing flipper remodel that fetched $1.825M.
That's an outstanding number for a home of that size in Liberty Village, most particularly for one backing up to Aviation. It helped a lot that the work was done so very well.
We also did a double-take with the sale of 1561 Mathews, which was once new construction (2014 build date), but which, per the recent listing, "has never been lived in."
It's huge at 6br/7ba, 5650+ sqft., and it also compiled huge numbers of days on market from early 2015 to late 2016 (528 in total), with huge asking prices ranging from $3.400M down to $3.200M before finally selling for $2.710M in December 2016 (wow, there's an adjustment).
But even that buyer didn't want to live there, just wanted to bide time for a little profit.
The resale of 1561 Mathews has just come in at $3.100M, nearly $400K over the recent acquisition.
It's the first closed sale of 2018 east of Sepulveda on a house with more than 2100 sqft., and it's already the first over $3M.
Remember last year, there were 15 East MB sales over $3M (homes with conventional lot sizes), eclipsing the 14 total $3M+ sales ever before 2017. So begins the new year on the east side.
Here's the rest of our local real estate market update report for the period ending 2/15/18:
- 75 active listings as of 2/15/18 (+22)
- 54 SFRs (+13)
- 21 THs (+9)
See the inventory list as of 2/15/18 here, or see the MB Dashboard for up-to-the-minute data.
Active listings by region of Manhattan Beach in this report:
- Tree Section: 16 actives (-1)
- Sand Section: 37 actives (+10)
- Hill Section: 8 actives (+5)
- East MB: 14 actives (+8)
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 2/15/18."
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.