By Jeffery Marino
Two opposing factors are driving house prices in Northeast Los Angeles.
Mortgage rates are up, which tends to put a damper on price growth. Inventory is down, which tends to pull prices up.
Here’s how that dynamic is playing out so far:
In April, the latest month with comprehensive sales data, the median sale price for a house in NELA inched up to $1.2 million. That’s not much higher than the $1.19 median recorded in March, but it’s a whopping 24% increase over the same period last year.
As for inventory, April marked the 12th straight month of double-digit annual declines. Compared to April last year, inventory is down 40%. The decline is largely due to fewer homes being put on the market. In April, new listings of homes for sale were down 18% from a year earlier.
Homeowners in NELA who did decide to sell were handsomely rewarded, however. The median days on market in April was just 28, which is eight days faster than April last year — and the fastest the market has been since September 2018. Moreover, the sale-to-list ratio, which compares the asking price to the final sale price, averaged 113%. That’s the highest average premium over asking on record in data going back to 2012.
If there’s a limit to what potential homebuyers can afford, the market in NELA hasn’t hit it yet.
I appreciate the fact that ad revenue from local realtors probably allows me to read the Boulevard Sentinel on-line from free. And it’s a nice community resource. But it feels as if the bulk of the articles have become uncritical promo and hype for real estate sales and flippers.
How about some analytical coverage of the forces driving these inflated prices and the gentrification of our neighborhoods? People of modest means can no longer realistically aspire to buying a starter home. Renters can’t afford to buy and are barely able to afford steadily rising rents – one of the many reasons that the number of unhoused Angelinos keeps increasing.
Please explain what an “inflated price” is, as all transactions occur in an open market between buyers and sellers
People who can no longer afford to rent or buy here don’t usually end up unhoused. They move where they can afford to live.
Thank Tracy King real estate for that.
Why do you hate financial success Tom?
You jelly ?
Why do you hate financial success Tom?
You jelly ?
I’ve noticed they tend to lowball the asking price and generate a lot of interest and higher selling prices for their listings.
we are very lucky so still have our hometown newspaper in eagle rock, after many closed across the nation in the last 15 years.
thank you! We really appreciate boulevard sentinel!
What does this mean : “ April marked the 12th straight month of double-digit annual declines. ”
How can you have a month of annual declines?
They measure inventory month by month, and for each of 12 months in a row, including April 2022, inventory was lower by double digits than it had been during the same month in the previous year.