I've posted a few times about how strong Big Bear lakefronts have sold in the first quarter of 2012. But when you take a look at the overall real estate market, you will see more mixed results. Take a look at the sales figures below.

 

                         1st Quarter 2011            1st Quarter 2012

# of Sales                205                                  244

Avg. Price              $224,040                         $237,254

Med. Price             $158,000                         $151,250

Avg. PPSF              $145                                $134

Med. PPSF              $133                                $120

 

On a first quarter comparison to last year, the number of sales of Big Bear homes rose significantly - by almost 20%. We saw a slight increase in average price as well. But other than that, we saw declines in the median price, average price per square foot and median price per square foot. The optimistic sign here is that sales are up. That is always good as more inventory is being moved and the are fewer homes for sale in Big Bear. The pessimistic take is that the sales numbers are still too weak to say that the market has stabilzed.

Although comparing prices during the same time period in consecutive years has its merits, the weakness is that you compare numbers that are a year apart in time.So let's take a look back at the previous quarter, the 4th quarter of 2011.

                        4th Quarter 2011                     1st Quarter 2012

# of Sales              298                                         244

Avg. Price            $202,353                                $237,254

Med. Price            $154,950                                $151,250

Avg. PPSF            $134                                        $134

Med. PPSF            $123                                        $120

 

The first noticeable discrepancy here is the number of Big Bear home sales. This drop in sales can purely be attributed to the time of year. Traditionally the fourth quarter is one of our busiest for homes sales while the first quarter is almost always the slowest. So that number should be disregarded.

But in looking at pricing, you see a strong increase in average price and a slight decrease in median price, whereas the average and median price per square foot didn't move much at all. Overall, I would say that this short term quarterly comparison leaves me more optimistic than the previous comparison did, but it still leaves me with a feeling of uncertainty.

At best, I think we can say that Big Bear real estate might be stabilizing. Hopefully, moving forward in 2012, we'll see continued improvement in the sales numbers and be able to make more definitive statements!