Today we’re taking a look back at how the market performed in 2016 and what we should expect in LA moving ahead in 2017.
Today I wanted to take a moment to take a look back at how the Los Angeles housing market did in 2016 and provide a forecast for what we can expect from the market moving forward in 2017.
Last year in Los Angeles County, we saw the median price for single-family homes go from $535,000 to $580,000 in 12 months, which is an 8.4% increase. Moving to Orange County, we saw the median price rise from $695,000 to $735,000 in that same 12-month span from January 2016 to January 2017, good for a 5.8% increase. We had a really strong year in terms of price appreciation.
We also continue to experience very low levels of housing supply in our market.
In LA County, for example, we have just 2.4 months worth of homes for sale. That means that if no new homes came onto the market, it would only take 2.4 months to sell all the homes currently on the market at the going rate, and that’s a very low number. In Orange County, we have just 2.6 months of supply. These are some of the lowest levels of inventory we’ve seen in a long time, and they are certainly the lowest numbers I’ve seen in my 13 years in real estate.
There are a few reasons for this low inventory, starting with the fact that there are a lot of people looking to buy a home thanks to low interest rates. Additionally, there are a lot of people who simply don’t want to sell their house. Many of these people are baby boomers who have lived in their house for decades and just don’t have a reason to sell it.
“THE CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS FORECASTS THAT WE WILL HAVE ANOTHER GOOD YEAR.”
This year, the California Association of Realtors forecasts that we will have another good year with prices rising about 4.6% throughout the state of California. If you’ve been thinking about selling your house, it’s a great time to figure out what your home is worth, and we’ve got great online value calculator that can give you an idea. This calculator can’t consider everything in your home like your view and the updates you’ve made to the home, which is where I come in.
If you’d like me to tell you exactly what your home is worth or you’re thinking about buying a home in the LA area, give me a call or send me an email. I’d be glad to help!
