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Checking the Pasadena Real Estate Market’s Vital Signs

May 31, 2009 By 2 Comments
Pasadena Homes Sold by month

These new statistics provide a compelling story of the Pasadena Real Estate market. They provide two years worth of monthly reports that allow you to form your own conclusions as to the pending improvement or the continuing decline of our local housing market. The data looked only at single family residential detached homes.

From the data presented, two of the charts offer reasons for optimism. The first is the Monthly Supply of Inventory. Housing units available for sale are basically at their lowest levels in two years indicating one of two things, 1) there is beginning to be some balance in the market or 2) many sellers have taken their homes off of the market because prices don’t provide them the opportunity to sell.

The other chart that portends a bottoming or the beginning of a turnaround is the Homes in Escrow. Again the number of homes that have an accepted purchase contract is near a two year high.

Lastly, one of the more puzzling charts is the How Many Days to Sell. This trend is coming down slowly within the last year but spiked considerably in April. If the housing downturn is in remission, the number of days it takes to sell a house will have to decline. Also with fewer homes on the market, I would think the number of days required to sell them would be less.

The only factor that might be contributing to this is the way this number is calculated. It can be easily manipulated, depending on the manner in which the listing agent changes the status. After an offer is accepted, if the status changes to “pending” the days on market stops counting. If it is changed to “back up,” the meter continues to run.

One last note of irony. In May 2007, the median listing price of a single family home in Pasadena was $769,500. In April 2009, the median price of all homes listed for sale that month were $769,000.

source Clarus REsource

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Pasadena Housing Market Comes Roaring Back

April 16, 2009 By 10 Comments

The Pasadena real estate market received a shot of adrenaline in March. For a patient that had been on life support for the last year and a half, the surgical team came in with a prognosis of “cautiously optimistic”. The medication came in the form of lower mortgage rates and an $8000 tax credit for first time home buyer’s. The increase from February to March was one of the biggest we have seen in 5 years. Prices always fall, even ever so slightly for this time period. But not this year. They rose about 10%. Pasadena home prices apparently are beginning to reverse two years of declines.

Think about the impact of the $8000 tax credit. How long does it take to earn $8000 in salary? For someone who was waiting for prices to become more affordable they in essence have hit the housing lottery. Interest rates are below 5% and taking into consideration the incentives available, the housing dollar is going a long way compared to historical standards.

Nearly all of the key housing indicators are turning positive and I guess I should preface that by “depending upon your situation”. But what happened was, inventory is coming down, selling times are decreasing, homes that are in escrow are pointing to higher sale prices. The check and balance in the report also indicated that condominium and townhome prices are stabilizing and appear to be coming out of hibernation. The median price of a single family home ticked considerably higher after months of declines rising about $100,000 from our last February sales report.

It’s great to see what happens when pro-growth policies are implemented and the turnaround that can occur. Sacramento, are you listening?

All of the key analysis comparisons are contained in the report below. Click the icon in the lower right hand corner to view it in full screen mode.

Pasadena Homes March up2date Sales Report
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Pasadena CA Real Estate – up2date Market Report for February

March 11, 2009 By 4 Comments

What if you walked into the department store and found everything on sale, only to find you not in the mood to buy anything. Now apply that to the Pasadena housing market. Many properties for sale have reduced their price at least once, in effect putting themselves on sale. What happens if no one buys? Maybe after awhile it’s marked down again until finally someone buys it or it’s taken off of the market. This is the dilemma many home sellers find them self in.

The federal government has even thrown in an incentive – an $8000 tax credit if you purchase a home this year. An $8000 credit has much more meaning if you are buying in Oklahoma. For this credit to be applied properly it would be indexed based upon the sales price in the area. A note to our State representatives – next time negotiate harder.

As stated in the January report, the Pasadena real estate market was close to yelling U N C L E. Sales results for February finally indicated some stability in the market. The steep declines we have seen the last few months subsided and pricing began to level off with the exception of townhomes and condominiums. I think Buyers are weighing their alternatives and deciding that single family homes offer a much better alternative to the current selections available in other areas of the housing market.

My charts include median pricing as far back as 2004. However with the median price of Pasadena home at $435,000, I would have to go through the archives and see when the last time prices were this low. There has been a moratorium on foreclosures recently, however there is some speculation that we could begin to see an increase in activity now that the Obama housing plan has been unveiled. This puts to rest who will benefit, which I think the market has been waiting for.

Enclosed below is the complete recap with median prices and units sold. In the coming week, we will look at the forecast for the next few months.

Pasadena Homes Feb09 Sales Report
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Pasadena Real Estate Market Feels January Slump

February 17, 2009 By 2 Comments

The optimism that precedes a new year was short lived at least where Pasadena real estate is concerned. Let’s face it, when it comes to real estate activity, January is, well January. This time of year is supposed to be unexciting and uneventful. From that standpoint the month certainly lived up to its expectations.

I am beginning to read some articles about other real estate markets across the country, showing some signs of life. In fact a Seattle Broker created quite a stir last week when she announced the end of declining values in her market. She observed that properties priced 20% under their 2007 summer peak were all selling. However, if you look at the peak here in Pasadena, it occurred in December ’07 at $710,750. A 20% decline would have been $568,600, which would have occurred around August last year. Our prices have fallen every month since then to a current median price in January 2009 of $429,000, or 40% off of our December ’07 high.

Pasadena Home Prices

Explaining the events in January can be summed up in a couple of points:

  1. The number of single family home sales were 30 units compared with 28 units for condo/townhomes. Of the 57 housing units that were sold, 75% of them were sold below $600,000
  2. Previously single family units had outpaced condo/townhomes by about a 2:1 ratio. This month however the ratio of single family to condo/townhome was almost 1:1. The median price of a condo was $415,000 which pulled down the overall median price.

Pasadena Outlook

The median prices of homes in escrow is indicating a trend still towards lower prices. The month of February is probably less exciting than January; however with a median price of $429,000 we are very close to reaching the bottom ourselves.

Pasadena Homes Jan09 Sales Report
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Pasadena Homes Sold vs. Homes in Foreclosure

January 26, 2009 By Leave a Comment

There has been much speculation about the housing market and its effect on the overall economy. Discussion centers around the real estate market and housing prices stabilizing along with increasing employment and job creation. The question is “When is this going to happen”?

Is the local Pasadena housing market better or worse than other real estate markets across the country? The factors that must be considered are the number of homes that sell compared to the number of homes that enter the foreclosure process. An increased number of home sales will indicate that consumers are returning to the market and the underlying fundamentals mentioned above are beginning to provide a foundation in which overall consumer confidence is increasing.

The Pasadena home sales for the month of December were just recently reviewed including the median prices and number of units that were sold. I took the single family home sales and plotted them on a map. If you scroll you mouse over the “green pin” and click you can also access the recorded sales price below.

To give you an idea of the disparity that exists in the Pasadena housing market, the second map includes the number of homes where a “Notice of Default” has been filed.

As you can see the problem becomes pretty defined when displayed in a visual context. In addition this may help you understand why the median price of a Pasadena home has declined about $200,000 in the last 12 months.

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