Consequent to the last post regarding a February comparison of sales, doing a year-to-date comparison of Big Bear home sales broadens the sample size and might give us a more accurate idea of where the market stands as compared to last year. Being that Big Bear real estate sales are cyclical, comparing sales that occur during the same time of year is the most accurate way to judge the market's direction. So let's look at sale from January and February of this year and compare them to sales during those same two months from last year.
First off, let's look at the number of homes sold. 2013 saw 158 closings of Big Bear homes in January and February whereas this year we posted 147 closings. This 11 home decline in sales represents just a 7% decline. As mentioned in previous blog posts, this slight drop in sales is likely attributed to the lack of snow Big Bear has received and thus lack of visitors. The fewer the visitors, the fewer the people who experience Big Bear and what it has to offer, thus the fewer the sales.
Regardless of this drop in sales, all significant year-to-date price measures rose from 2013 to 2014. The average sale price rose from $229,000 to $250,000 resulting in a 9% increase while the median rose from $158,500 to $182,000 representing a 15% increase. The average and median price per square foot also showed gains with the average price per square foot rising 13% to its 2014 level of $173 while the median rose an incredible 42% from $140 to $169.
So in a year-to-date comparison of all four major measures of Big Bear home values, we have seen a substantial increase in prices over the past year. As mentioned in the previous article, with interest rates still below 4.5% for a 30 year fixed conventional loan and with our supply of homes for sale still near historically low levels, there is nothing foreseeable that suggest the Big Bear real estate market won't continue to recover at a healthy rate.