By Jeffery Marino
The median price for a home in Northeast Los Angeles ticked up recently, but fundamentally, the local housing market remains soft.
In November, the latest month will full housing data, the median house price in NELA was $1.14 million, compared to $1.09 million the month before. The price bump may be due to a dip in mortgage rates in November, to 6.5% percent from 7%. Consumer inflation also dipped in the fall from the highs of summer, which is a confidence booster for homebuyers. At the same time, the supply of homes in NELA continued to shrink in November, which supports price growth by keeping the market competitive.
However, a one-month uptick in prices doesn’t change the big picture. Year-over-year, prices in NELA increased a mere 7% from November. That’s a big comedown from the market’s double-digit annualized price growth for most of 2021 and 2022.
In other signs of today’s tepid market, homes for sale in NELA in November were on the market for a median of 39 days – the slowest month on record since March 2021. Homes that did sell went for 5% above the asking price on average, compared to a 16% average premium as recently as last May.
The takeaway for now is that price growth in NELA is likely to continue as long as inventory remains low, but it will be subdued until interest rates and consumer inflation retreat further.
NELA is blessed with such talented and devoted real estate professionals (I’m thinking of the two Tracy’s [Tracy King and Tracy Do] among others but MOSTLY I am thinking of the indefatigable Cherryl Weaver) looking out for our best interests that I don’t loose any sleep worrying that NELA property values will drop with them on watch.