The lack of snow and unseasonably warm winter weather finally showed its impact on real estate sales with the number of home sales falling 35% this March as compared to March 2013. With the average escrow period being 30-60 days, March closings represent homebuyers who were looking for properties and opening escrow in our peak winter months of January and February. This significant drop in sales is likely related to the drop in the number of visitors to Big Bear due to our unusually poor snow conditions.

Regardless of the drop in sales, prices stayed strong as sellers have continued to price towards the higher side of market value to take advantage of an improving market. Comparing March 2013 to March 2014, the average sales prices was up 8% to $320,156 while the median slid 15% to $188,500. Looking at a more accurate measure of market direction, the average and median price per square foot saw a 16% and 23% increase from last March to its current levels of $194 and $181 respectively.

The Days On Market (DOM) stayed stable as the average home sold after 108 days on market this March. This was slightly quicker than the average 113 days it took for a home to sell in 2013. Meanwhile, the sales price to list price ratio as stayed stable at 97% in our same month comparison.

First Quarter Comparison 

Looking at sales through the first quarter of 2014, we see similar trends as in our March comparisons with sales lagging while prices are still showing steady improvement.

The number of Big Bear home sales were down 18% this quarter as compared to the first quarter of 2013. Average and median sales prices continued their recovery posting 7% and 10% gains while the average and median sales prices increased 15% and 17% in our first quarter comparison. The Days On Market stayed relatively stable at around 114 days while the sales price to list price ratio stayed at 97%.

Current Market Conditions

With sales lagging so far in 2014 due to the unusual weather, it makes predicting where the market will head over the next few months a little more difficult.

With fewer sales resulting in more homes in our inventory, the supply side of homes has seen a steady increase over the past month. January saw a low of 353 homes in Big Bear for sale whereas today there are 460. Couple the increase in number of homes for sale with the slide in closings we've seen so far in 2014 and we see January's inventory of homes at 4.5 months increase to 7.1 months of inventory in March. Inventory hasn't been that high since May of 2012 when it peaked at 7.4 months. (Months of inventory = number of homes for sale/number of sales per that month)

Again, this trend in higher inventory is likely attributed to our substantial decrease in winter visitors due to the weather. It is reasonable to assume we'll see a return to more normal sales numbers as summer approaches.