REAL ESTATE MARKET NEWS (Downtown Los Angeles) — The August market report is in. Is the Downtown L.A. economy just right, or is it the calm before the storm? Let’s take a look at the August 2017/2018 numbers to create a clear picture. #dtla #realestate #news
DTLA home owners and sellers are happy. The price of Downtown real estate is higher in August of 2018 than it was during the same period a year ago. The average Downtown home price increased from $761,000 to $782,000. The average condo is selling faster than a year ago as well. What took 67 days to sell last year took 64 days this year.
Prices are up a perfect 2.7%. The average selling price to average listing price ratio has dropped from 94% to 93%, which is just enough bad news to take the temperature from too hot to just right. Better yet, the only other negative news is a smaller overall market with new listings dropping from 44 to 38, which can be good news for the few who want to sell.
According to the numbers, the Downtown real estate economy is picture perfect, except for real estate professionals, who must compete more fiercely for their piece of a smaller pie, which shrank from total August volume of $33.5 million last year to less than $30 million in 2018. We can clearly see good news that is reigned in by not-so-bad news.
The heat of Downtown Los Angeles real estate has been successfully turned down to a comfy temperature. Goldilocks and the Downtown homeowners are perfectly warm and snug while the size of the average home price is just right — for the moment.
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When it comes to Downtown L.A. real estate, there is no better place to find out what is going on. This post will reveal everything from cracks to stone cold facts to crazy possibilities. #realestate #market #news #dtla
Southern California Real Estate Market Cracks Affect Downtown Los Angeles
Readers of the L.A. Loft Blog are the most informed buyers, sellers, landlords and tenants. In 2011, we notified the world that the coming wave of foreclosures was probably not going to happen. We informed that the real wave to catch was the beginning of the economic growth cycle, and crazy low real estate prices. We foretold the fact that buying a Downtown Los Angeles loft or condo at that time would virtually like getting a free home. Fortunately, for our buyer clients, it turned out to be true as the average Downtown loft more than doubled from the mid $200,000s to over $600,000 today. The cost of the home has been quickly surpassed by the tremendous equity gained. The average home owner now has a net worth $400,000 higher than that of the average renter.
THE FUTURE OF DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES REAL ESTATE
Six days ago, the Loft Blog reminded everyone that it is time to spot the changes now occuring, how to spot the canary in the coal mine in order to see what’s coming, and how to take advantage of the dynamics of today’s real estate market.
This week, the Orange County Register reinforced our insight, reporting that Southern California home seekers are placing 9 percent fewer homes into escrow this spring, a dip that caused one analyst to write his “Cracks Appearing” report.
Steve Thomas of ReportsOnHousing wrote: “Noticeable cracks have appeared that illustrate a cooling market”. He goes on to note that it is not suddenly a buyer’s market as there is a lack of available homes below $1 million. A recent count of 13,669 new SoCal escrows is down 1,341 sales contracts in 12 months or 9 percent. That’s also off 5 percent vs. the previous five years.
Supply of available homes is down, while at the same time, it is taking longer for homes to sell.
The bottom line is that the real estate market in general is slowing, with fewer transactions, as buyers and sellers are both more content to stay put where they are. The biggest losers in today’s real estate market are flippers, real estate agents.
Renters are also among the losers, as they will likely feel more and more like frogs in very warm water turning to boiling as the heat rises too slowly to notice unit it’s too late. Because prices are unlikely to fall substantially, but rather likely to meander up, most renters will find themselves increasingly priced out of the market.
SELL REAL ESTATE TO BUY BITCOIN?
Here’s the craziest of possibilities that is actually very likely to come true: Those who sell their home at today’s plateau, use the proceeds to buy cryptocurrency such bitcoin near its bottom in roughly a year, will be likely be able to sell and retire on tens of millions of dollars of gains just a few years later.
Please let us know who is crazy enough and smart enough to do something like this. We’d love to hear more stories from the really amazing readers of the L.A. Loft Blog. And, as always, we are here to help those who have questions.
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perfect, except for real estate professionals, who must compete more fiercely for their piece of a smaller pie, which shrank from total August volume of $33.5 million last year to less than $30 million in 2018. We can clearly see good news that is reigned in by not-so-bad news.
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