With the first half of the year coming to a close, I thought it would be interesting to compare the first 6 months of 2020, when the pandemic reared its ugly head, to the first 6 months of 2021, when Big Bear real estate saw record high sales and sale prices.
Here are the numbers comparing the first 6 months of 2020 to that same time period in 2021:
The average sale price of Big Bear homes rose 39% to $532,238.
The median sale price of Big Bear homes rose 50% to $450,000.
The average price per square foot was up 44% to $374.
The median price per square foot was up 44% to $360.
The average sales price to list price ratio rose from 98% to 104%.
The average Days On Market dropped from 113 days to get a home sold to just 48 days, a drop of 60%.
Lastly, comparing home inventory, we had 321 Big Bear homes for sale in June of 2020 while this June we had only 165 Big Bear homes for sale, a 49% drop.
These numbers are beyond anything that anyone could have imagined at the time the pandemic arrived. I think it is safe to say that these price increases and the speed at which they happened were unprecedented.
Understandably, many prognosticators are concerned about a real estate bubble adopting a "what goes up must come down" stance. But with so many well qualified purchasers over the last year putting significant down payments on their homes, and with many others paying all cash, I think a "bubble burst" is unlikely.
Regardless, with the current home inventory astonishingly low, the Big Bear real estate market seems to be in a very strong position through the foreseeable future.