Los Angeles Real Estate Market Update - SEPT 2021

Southern California home prices were

essentially flat in August from the previous month, as the market cools slightly from its torrid pace earlier this year. An encouraging sign for buyers is that slightly fewer homes are selling above asking price and homes are staying on the market for slightly longer as well, so previously discouraged would-be homeowners may be beginning to see some signs of hope.

Even though the market is cooling, few experts expect home values will decline in the near future, given the long-running mismatch between supply and demand.

Rates for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages has been remarkably stable within a 2-basis-point band for the better part of the last two months. Rates averaged in the later half of September were at just 2.88%.

Despite stable interest rates and slightly less market competition, buyers have yet to re-enter the market in significant numbers.

More than 62% of transactions that have closed thus far in September (as of the 27th) have closed above asking price , but that number is down from a peak of more than 70% in June. Similarly, the transactions that have closed this month took a few extra days to go pending than during the summer. Homes are still selling in less than 2 weeks, but buyers have a little bit more time and a little bit less competition for each listing.

Here's how the price and sales gains broke down by county compared with a year earlier for August 2020 vs August 2021. In Los Angeles County, in August, the median price rose 13.4% to $785,000, while sales climbed 14.3%. Experts predict home values to end 2021 up 19.9% from December 2020.

Economists expect the typical U.S home value to increase 4.7% over the next three months (August-November), and to end August 2022 up 11.7% from August 2021.

Information from LA Times, Yahoo Finance and California Association of Realtors.