How is The Real Estate Market in South Pasadena?

Doug Willis — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 18:34:53 +0000

South Pasadena. The words have a special connotative meaning, especially when it comes to real estate and home ownership. The affects of the real estate bubble experienced throughout many other parts of California and the US, have been less severe. While the median price of a single family home declined just like it has everywhere else, prices have stabilized and appear to be on the upswing once again.

Year # of Single Family Home Sales Median Price

2008 81 $ 940,000
2009 116 $ 859,214
2010 119 $ 819,000
2011 (thru 5/30) 50 $ 886,000

While the media reports have been less than stellar and present a real estate market that is flat lining or declining in some areas, the market in South Pasadena still favors the seller. When the market favors the seller, we see high demand and low inventory

South Pasadena Market Activity

What are the charts telling us?

Number of Homes Sold & Pended – in March ’11 the South Pasadena market begin to show sizable improvements in sold and especially in homes entering escrow. The May sales volume of 16 homes has been the highest in the 15 months of the chart.. Very positive results for our local market as the national market began to slow.

Sold vs List Price Percentage – again the last three months indicate the increased activity in the South Pasadena real estate market as homes were sold at or slightly above their listing prices. The “days on market” measurement has been steady for about 2 months. This is a measurement that is too easy to manipulate and therefore I don’t place a lot of credibility in this. Although I don’t advocate ignoring it entirely, I pay very little attention to it.

Months of Inventory – going into the peak selling season, inventory is very low. Therefore we have a strong demand characterized by solid pricing with little room for negotiation. However everything is not working against the home buyer. Interest rates and the cost of money are very, very attractive. Maybe some consolation as your housing dollar does go further.

Looking for more South Pasadena real estate news? Check out our recent article on South Pasadena Patch.

South Pasadena Real Estate Shows Pricing Momentum

Doug Willis — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 22:45:01 +0000

Home sales in South Pasadena are represented in a dichotomous group. On one hand you have statistics indicating that fewer homes are being sold. In fact, that can be said of most markets here in the San Gabriel Valley. Housing markets across the state which are showing unit increases are due to the foreclosure activity and the reemergence of the low end market. However, the South Pasadena real estate market hasn’t experienced a high degree of foreclosures; therefore price stability has been more of the rule.

Contributing to the division in South Pasadena is the widening gap between single family units and condo’s / townhomes. Sales of condos and townhomes are just slow. Just like we have seen in the Pasadena real estate market, there is declining demand. Maybe the limited numbers of home buyers in the market are opting instead to purchase single family homes. If you price it right, they will come! Is this heaven? No, it’s South Pasadena.

South Pasadena Single Family

If you are selling a home in South Pasadena above $850,000 the odds are in your favor that you will do well. Due to the limited number of home sales each month, I went back and looked at the last three months to get a better idea of the activity and hopefully avoid any monthly momentum swings. Although the unit volume declined 26% in the last three months, the median price is up about $350,000. Of the 30 homes that were sold, 19 of these were over $1MM. Of the 50 + homes that are for sale, homes priced over $1MM represent about 40% of those listings.

Source: i-Tech MLS

South Pasadena Condo’s and Townhomes

Gains in the single family market were offset by losses in condo’s and townhomes. Unit sales declined more than 50%, while the median price fell $182,000 or 30%. There are about 27 units currently on the market that are in the “active” or “pending” stages. Only 2 units sold in the month of July.

Source: i-Tech MLS

Summary

Before calling your friends in Riverside County and telling them that the price of your house increased by 40%, understand that this is just a snapshot of a particular point in time. It could easily be an anomaly due to the pricing mix assortment that happened in this period. We’ll take a look in another 3 months and see what has transpired.

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