There seems to be two different minds in regards to the Covid pandemic's effects on the Big Bear real real estate market. One is that the economy will suffer greatly with real estate not being an exception. The other is that this event will be short lived and the dip in the economy will be temporary.

No one knows for sure what's in store for the Big Bear real estate market, but what we do know for certain are the current market numbers telling us how the market has fared so far.

On that note, March sales were up 14% rising from 82 sales last year to 95 sales this year. Being that the realities of the Covid threat really set in around the middle of the month and shelter-in-place orders took place shortly thereafter, I compared March's sales over the last two weeks of the month as well. In both 2019 and 2020, the last two weeks of the month both saw 50% of the total month's sales. So sales did not slow even after the shock of Covid set in!

Keep in mind that homes that sold over the last two weeks of March had likely been in escrow for at least two weeks (and likely much longer) prior to the Covid threat being realized. Although sales that were already pending didn't seem to be affected, I think it was a good sign that few people backed out of their transactions in the midst of economic uncertainty.

April will be a much better indicator of what effects Covid may be having on the market with May really being the month that will let us know the impact. Most May sales will likely reflect homes that went into escrow after California's shelter-in-place orders took effect. 

As for Big Bear home prices in March, we saw a small 3% drop in average sale price to $365,371 but a 5.5% increase in the median sale price to $325,000. The average and median price per square foot bot rose 8% and 7% to $260 and $253 respectively. The sales price to list price ratio stayed at 97% and the average days on market dropped from 114 days to 101 days.

I will be keeping an eye on the market moving forward and will update this blog every two weeks to see if and how the Big Bear real estate market is responding to the latest economic news and the Covid situation.

Until then, everyone be safe and stay healthy!