As most are aware, news of the nationwide real estate crisis over this past year quickly turned into headlines of not only a real estate market recovery, but a real estate market boom! No one saw such a quick turn-around in real estate coming, and no one knows how long this increased market activity will last.
Regardless, every housing market is local. So let's see how Big Bear has fared compared to last year.
When we look at the level of real estate activity and the number of Big Bear home sales, we see that through June of 2012, we had 454 sales last year compared to 536 sales this year. That represents an increase of 18% in the number of single family residences sold.
The average and median prices of these sold homes has gone up 5% and 15% to the current levels of $247,893 and $185,000 respectively.
The average and median price per square foot has also risen 11% and 13% to the current values of $156.40 and $146.70.
The average number of days on market before selling has dropped from 129 days to 105 days while the average sales price to list price ratio has risen from 95% to 96%.
The number of Big Bear homes for sale has dropped from 595 last June to only 480 listings this June.
Through the first half of 2013, we are seeing improvement in every single measure of the Big Bear real estate market!
Looking forward, with home inventory low and buyer interest remaining high, I would expect conditions to remain strong. The main concern right now are mortgage rates that have risen almost a full percentage point over the last month. But considering rates were at record lows last month and that current rates are hovering around an historically low 4.5%, I am not sure if this increase will greatly affect the market comeback.