Happy New Year!
Believe it or not, it is a year since our scare of the Skirball Fire in the neighborhood. During this pastyear, I have shared a number of suggestions for things we all can do to try and keep ourselves andhomes safe. I hope you have been able to institute some of them.
Where ever you look, it has been a roller-coaster year; the stock market, the housing market, politics, the government shut down and Mother Nature. As we enter 2019, we find things in a state of flux with continued rising home prices throughout the State, inventory improving, but still less than needed, and higher or lower interest rates (depending on the day!), all of which is affects everyone. On top of this, we have experienced the deadly Woolsey Fire in Malibu, and the Camp Fire in Northern California. There is an interesting graphic in the Los Angeles Times from 27th of December showing the Century of Malibu wildfires. It is truly eye opening and quite concerning.
In California especially, we are still dealing with lower than desired & needed inventory, our median sales prices up and down the state remains the highest in the U.S. The median sales prices in Los Angeles for single-family residences is $616,000. The impact of the tax bill will reveal just how much it impacts individuals when the IRS starts processing tax returns. On the one hand, we have a volatile stock market, but economists still maintain the economy is strong: Consumer confidence is high as retail sales over the holidays was up 5.1% to over $850 billion, the best sales in over six years, making retailers very happy.
On the Westside, I have seen sales volumes hovering 5% below 2017, as median sales prices continue to rise over the previous years. On the other hand, I have had an excellent year and am once again optimistic about the coming year. The good news — we live in one of the world’s most attractive real estate markets, and despite ups/downs we are very lucky to live where we do.
From a real estate perspective, how is our fabulous community doing, especially in comparison to the last quarter of 2017? In looking at the reports which I am enclosing you will see that currently we have no Canyon homes for sale, only Custom homes of which one is on hold, so in terms of active listings, there are 4. Last year at this time, we had 6 homes for sale, 3 in each category. We have 2 Custom homes in escrow now, with none last year in either category. As for closed escrows, that is where it gets interesting, for this past quarter, we had 8, of which 5 were Canyon homes and 3 Custom. Two of the Canyon homes that closed escrow, had been on the market for a while, while some of the homes, sold within the first 30 days. Last year, we had 3 closed escrows, 1 of which was a Canyon home, and 2 were Custom homes. I might add that currently I am negotiating the sale of a pocket listing of a Canyon home and hopefully by the time you get this, we will be opening escrow. We achieved many goals this past year with the re-design of the front entrance, and the passage of the permission from the community to begin working on an update for the club house as well as the gym, and you will find some new, much needed gym equipment.
Please reach out to me for any questions and/or concerns/ assistance I can provide for your real estate needs. I look forward to seeing and speaking with you soon.