Mountaingate 3rd Quarterly Report 2021
Dear Mountaingate Neighbor:
Happy Fall, my favorite time of year
The long, hot summer is behind us. Or is it? We have drifted into a draught again, and as the leaves turn brown and gold, we look skyward for just a drop of rain. But no luck. Perhaps we should all do a rain dance to see if that will help. It never rains in Southern California…as the song goes. Not true, it just feels that way.
As we enter our 19th month of the global pandemic, we continue to see record sales being posted in our Westside real estate market, especially in the high-end market where we outpaced previous years by as much as 75% increase in homes selling for more than $5 million, year over year. Locally, we are 72% ahead in sales volumes through August compared to 2020. On a national basis, existing home sales fell by 2.0% in August, which has been running counter to rising home prices. You might ask, “What does the future bring?” At this writing we are all looking to and hoping that Congress will be able to find a way to avoid a government shutdown and avoid a financial disaster for the country. That being said, the forecast for the real estate market, especially in “our neck of the woods” will stay strong, we are and will continue to see an increase in prices, just not as much as we have seen recently, and there still will be multiple offers again not as many.
According to Case-Shiller, U.S. home prices rose 19.7% in August for the fourth consecutive month of record price appreciation, but the market could be starting to cool as there are signs the market frenzy might be starting to ease. Price growth is starting to decline in some major markets. A word to the wise — the Fed has indicated that rates will most likely increase in 2022, so it is a good time to look at getting your finances in order if you’re thinking of buying soon. We all must remember that even with the forecast of increasing interest rates, that increase will be somewhat slow in developing and in looking at interest rates historically, even if they go to 4%, they are still low.
Real estate perspective what has happened in Mountaingate this past quarter? There has been a marked difference in real estate performance/activity between the 2nd quarter of this year and this past quarter. Currently there are 4 homes available for sale vs. 2 in quarter #2. Each quarter brought 1 home in escrow. The big difference is in the number of closed escrows. There were 2, and actually the house on Sunrise Hill closed in quarter #2 but was not noted. That gets added to the 8 other escrows in quarter #2. As I am sure most of you know, there has been a lot of activity pertaining to the fire & homeowners insurance policies in the Ridge. From what I have been told, it appears that for the most part
it has been partially resolved and hopefully all of the necessary pieces will be put together very quickly.
Please know that you can reach out to me with any questions and for all of your real estate needs. I am here for you… Call me 310-442-1384
