As most of you are aware, the real estate market in Big Bear, as well as real estate nationwide, has had a relatively strong comeback after 6 years of record declines. Recently, there have been predictions that the double digit annual appreciation rate that most markets realized last year will slow or even reverse soon. This concern is based on mortgage rates rising more than a full percentage point over the last 2 months and fueled by expectations that buyer demand will taper off.
Watching the number of sales of Big Bear homes increase steadily through July, one might wonder whether this buying trend has slowed. Homes that sold in July likely went into escrow in April, May or June. So July sales numbers really are showing activity from several months earlier in the year.
A more recent measure that can better tell us about current activity is the number of pending Big Bear home sales. Take a look at this chart.
From this chart, you can see that pending home sales in Big Bear have shown no signs of slowing down. Over each of the last three years, we have seen increases in the number of pending sales in the months of June, July and August. With August 2013 showing the highest number of pending home sales on the graph, it looks like the market is showing no signs of slowing at this point in time.
But stay tuned! Things can shift fast and I will be closely watching the market for any changes that might occur. In the meantime, rest assured that things are continuing to look positive for Big Bear real estate.