PRICES: The median price of a detached home in the Coachella Valley fell last month and is currently $649,000, which is up 5.5% year over year. This monthly decline is a little unusual since prices typically begin to rise in November. The latest price is now 8.6% below the peak of a few months ago. The median price for attached homes in November was $450,000, which is down for the sixth month. Only one city – Coachella – has a year over year gain above 20%. Palm Desert and Palm Springs have the smallest gain at 3%. In the attached market, gains range from 32% down to 5.1%.
SALES: Home sales continue to decline. The three-month average of sales in November was 474 units a month, which is 41% less than last year. In the three years before the pandemic, November sales averaged 700 units per month, so sales are running 32% below average. Every city has lower sales now compared to a year ago. The largest percentage sales declines are in the cities of La Quinta at 54%, then Cathedral City at 46%, Rancho Mirage at 45% and Palm Springs and Palm Desert at 43%. Indio had the smallest sales decline at 25%.
INVENTORY & “MONTHS OF SALES” RATIOS: On December 1st, Valley inventory stood at 2,048 units, which is higher than last month and 1,398 units more than last year. This monthly increase is again opposite to most other California regions, where inventory generally declined in November. The Valley’s “months of sales” ratio was 2.8 months, which is again higher than last to run below 4.0 months, which is normal for this time of year.
