Los Angeles Real Estate Market Update Nov/Dec 2024
The Los Angeles housing market has seen some significant shifts in recent months, making it a complex and dynamic environment for both buyers and sellers.
California home sales rebounded in October, reversing two straight months of sales declines and registering the fastest year-over-year sales pace in 40 months. Specifically, sales in October 2024 were 10.9% higher than October 2023. This trend reflects a broader regional pattern in Southern California, where sales were 11.9% higher compared to the previous year. October’s statewide median home price was $888,740, up 2.4 percent from September and up 5.8 percent from $839,990 in October 2023.
While market conditions are improving at a slower-than-expected pace, October’s bounce back in home sales suggests that there’s still solid interest from motivated buyers.
The September-to-October price gain was the largest in 45 years, while the year-over-year price gain was the biggest pace recorded in the past three months, marking the 16th consecutive month of annual price increases. Home prices could soften further in the coming months as the market enters the traditional off-season but should continue to register year-over-year growth for the remainder of the year.Sales in higher-priced market segments continued to have an effect on the mix of sales, but the impact on the statewide median price growth has tapered in recent months. While the sales pace for the $1 million-and-higher price segment remained moderately low in October at 3.9 percent.
Key points from C.A.R.’s October 2024 resale housing report include:
At the regional level, home sales in all major regions, except one, bettered their year-ago levels in October. Four out of five regions in the state experienced an annual increase, with the San Francisco Bay Area (16.2 percent) increasing the most, followed by the Central Valley (13.7 percent), Central Coast (13.0 percent) and Southern California (11.9 percent).
Total active listings at the state level rose 31.5 percent on a year-over-year basis, the slowest growth rate since April of this year. Nevertheless, it was the ninth consecutive annual sales gain and the eighth straight double-digit increase. With the market entering the holiday season and home sales likely to be negatively impacted in the next couple months by the surge in mortgage rates in recent weeks, housing inventory could continue building up as we move further into the fall and winter.
New active listings at the state level improved from a year ago for the 10th straight month in October. The pace of new listings was not only the highest since July of this year, but it was the ninth time in the last 10 months that new listings increased by double-digits.
The median number of days it took to sell a California single-family home was 25 days in October, up from 20 days in October 2023.
C.A.R.’s statewide sales-price-to-list-price ratio* was 99.9 percent in October 2024 and 100.0 percent in October 2023.
The statewide median price per square foot** for an existing single-family home was $442, up from $419 in October a year ago.
The 30-year, fixed-mortgage interest rate averaged 6.43 percent in October, down from 7.62 percent in October 2023, according to C.A.R.’s calculations based on Freddie Mac’s weekly mortgage survey data.
In short, the Los Angeles housing market in 2024 showed signs of growth, with home sales and prices increasing compared to the previous year. This suggests a continuation of the upward trend, with the market favoring sellers more than buyers.
Sources: California Association of Realtors & Norada Estates
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