MB Market Update for 2/29/20

This market update looks like it'll be the last one recording local real estate activity before the COVID-19 outbreak began to affect financial markets.

People listing and buying homes in January and February were doing so without particular attention to the virus or its potential ramifications. For now, the markets need to work out what it all means.

How is COVID-19 going to affect local real estate?

No crystal balls here.

We'll note that the issue has emerged right in the thick of a promising Spring selling season. There is a natural momentum to sales at this time of year. More inventory comes out and more people buy between February and May than any other time of year.

That's a powerful wind that typically blows, and we'll have watch to see if COVID-19 or its financial market ramifications proves to be a formidable obstacle to that wind. 

There are obvious reasons to worry, or wait, or to expect the normal flow of the real estate market unless or until something really big changes.

What we can promise you here is that we'll watch the data, put a finger in the wind (but wash hands afterward!) and report back to you on what we see over these next few/several months.

One data nibble: Over the past 7 days, 11 homes in the MB real estate market have gone into escrow.

How does that compare? Well. This year compares well. Because in the last full 2 weeks of Feb. 2019, 14 homes went into escrow. (See our 2/28/19 market update.)

So that means just 7 days of February/March here have performed almost as well as 14 days from the same time of year in 2019. At least you can say that's not at all bad.

But we'll watch. It may take a while for all the potential impacts to ripple through real estate.

Here are some of the homes that went into escrow in these past 7 days:

660 33rd (5br/6ba, 4750 sqft.) is a large Tree Section Tuscan on a street-to-alley lot.

Asking $4.170M, it stood almost alone in the field and accepted an offer within 3 weeks.

Also, an impressively styled recent build (2016) at 756 36th (6br/7ba, 3600 sqft.) got a quick offer with a list of $3.599M.

We had watched 36th dwindle in 2016 from an asking price near $3.6M to its sale at $2.945M in Summer. It just looks better now.

Also much-improved since its last run on the market, 3304 Poinsettia (5br/4ba, 3225 sqft.) had received a facelift that ditched the "French Normandy" style and pushed more of a coastal/modern feel. It barely logged a week on market before making a deal, with a list price of $2.899M.

Also in the Hill Section, we saw new construction get absorbed pretty quickly. That was 510 N. Dianthus (5br/4ba, 3800 sqft.), a fairly glamorous modern-style home with an open floorplan.

Asking was $4.600M, and it lasted just about a month before a buyer knocked.

New construction in the Trees by Pacific at 844 14th (5br/6ba, 3500 sqft.) needed only about 10 days before inking a deal on Feb. 28. (List: $3.795M.)

Two flipper remodels drew offers: 1776 Voorhees ($1.499M) and 1148 Poinsettia ($1.998M).

That's not everything, but you can see multiple price points that had action right here in just the past several days.

Here's the rest of our local real estate market update report for the period ending 2/29/20:

• 93 active listings as of 2/29/20 (+10 from 2/15/20) 
• 69 SFRs (+4)
• 24 THs (+6)

See the Inventory list as of 2/29/20 here, or see the MB Dashboard for up-to-the-minute data.

Active listings by region of Manhattan Beach in this report:

• Tree Section: 19 actives (+2)
• Sand Section: 46 actives (+2)
• Hill Section: 5 actives (-2)
• East MB: 23 (+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 2/29/20".