Although the number of sold Big Bear homes dipped in August, prices continued to rise on a same month comparison basis.
Big Bear home sales dropped from 143 closings last August to 104 this August. In spite of this, all four major price measures appreciated with the average and median home prices rising 7% and 11% to $340,246 and $282,250 respectively and the average and median price per square foot rising 4.5% and 5% to $240 and $229 respectively.
The average Days On Market for sold Big Bear homes rose slightly from 96 to 103 days, while the median remained the same at 70.
On a year-to-date basis, we see the same trends with sales dipping but Big Bear home prices showing continued appreciation. Comparing sales through August this year to those of the same time period last year, we see that the average and median Big Bear home prices are up 7% and 13% to $343,950 and $290,000 respectively while the average and median price per square foot rose 14% and 10% to $248 and $238 respectively.
The Days On Market dropped from 103 to 91 days while the median fell from 68 to 62 days.
The inventory of Big Bear homes for sale is up slightly, with 497 homes listed for sale in mid-August last year to 529 homes listed for sale in mid-August of this year. For a perspective, August 2011 saw an inventory of 838 homes for sale.
Mortgage rates have continued to creep up with conventional 30 year interest rates hovering around 4.5% - still an extremely low rate from an historically perspective.
With summer behind us and gear shifting towards the upcoming winter season, we will see an overlap of late summer buyers with early winter buyers which should keep sales strong through the end of the year.