LA South Bay Real Estate
Market Forecast 

July 19, 2010

Volume 7, issue 7

  Written and Created by Barry Brickel J.D.  

             Keller Williams Realty                 

LAsouthbayRealEstate.com

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Summary of June's Data

June's sold data has given us some conflicting data. On the positive side sales volume was the highest in four years. That was very refreshing news as sales volume has had a hard time pushing through the average of 502 units per month for quite some time. The Unsold Index remains in a very favorable range at 3.5 months even though more homes have been put on the market in the being offset by the increased sales volume. Most of our indicators are strongly positive but there is some weakness developing. On the negative side Median Home prices have broken the short term trend line and have given back most of the gain from January 2009. Rememeber these values fluctuate widely from month to month so we must rely on the trend of home prices before reaching a conclusion. Median Home price positve momentum has slowed as evidenced by our Momentum chart below, price momentum is near the zero value indicating no price momentum or that prices have stalled. There is no energy in  price momentum in either direction up or down.

Median prices receive a lot of attention by the media, beacuse of that it is an indicator to be concerned with. However it is not an indication that homes prices are going up or down only where the public is buying. It is preferable that the Median price is going up as a measure on market health. In other words the public buying more expensive homes in general is a good sign. For a more detail study see the discussion of Median price vs. Average price,

The Average LA South Bay Home price is fairing much better and remains significantly higher than its January 2009 value. I consider this measure of home price more significant as discussed in the discussion above.

The current market remains in a very healthy "balanced market", neither a Buyer's or Sellers' market and remains as an ideal market for Buyers, Sellers, Investors and Agents. Most of our indicators are positive at the present time. Home Affordability remains very high due to the combination of low interest rates and low median prices. The March 2009 buy signal given here still remains the best time to have purchased in the current up cycle but we may get a similar opportunity soon. The Affordability Indicator is a best indicator to watch if you are trying to time the market than home prices if you are planning to finance your purchase.

Sentiment decreased in May and broke its uptrend line from November of 2007, June's value remains about the same, This is an indicator for us to watch in the future for purposes of risk evaluation, but is still very positive.

City Price trends For Torrance, Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach and San Pedro are shown at the bottom of this report with their deviations from the long term price trends.

The following conditions are supporting a market bottom and are reasons to buy now.

1 - The Foreclosures charts are indicating a peak in foreclosures, if sustained it will
provide additional confirmation of the bottom of the market. The number of new foreclosure properties currently listed for sale in the entire South Bay as of today is relatively low.
2 -The Affordability chart shows the affordability in January 2009 was at the highest since June 2003. From August 2007 to June 2010 affordability has increased approximately 52 % . This indicator is the most important indicator if you are looking to get in to the market because it is a measure of how much you can buy for your money.
3 - Properties are being absorbed in the outside areas at discounted prices as conditions are continuing to improve, see the chart below (see Murrietta)
4 - Interest rates have very little room on the downside probabilities to the upside are highly likely.
5 - High Inflation is very likely to occur within the next 2 years (See the 10 year Treasury Yield curve below), All asset classes such as real estate will increase when that occurs.
6- Most economists agreee that the national recession is over, buying confidence should increase.

Here are the reasons to wait: for a better buying time

1 - Low confidence in the national economy and increased unemployment and or negative personal income trends locally may drive down prices and/or Mortgage rates. A double dip recession  is a remains a strong probability.
2 - Low number of sales may be an issue again, if that happens the U.I. (Unsold Index) will increase resulting in a large supply of homes on the market causing prices to go down provided inventory does not decrease.
3 - Interest rates may go down further improving affordability for more buyers.
4 - Interest rates may go up higher as econcomy improves forcing prices down to a better buying opportunity. The government has stopped buying Treasury securities, that will cause all rates to go up and prices down putting pressire on prices. Fewer buyers on these securities will cause interest rates to go up.
5 - Removal of Government incentives may result in a lower number of home buyers resulting in lower home prices in the future. It looks like there is little incentives planned in the near future.

Remember to read the comments to the right of each chart below. Click on the graphs to enlarge.

Forecast


Home prices are destined to increase if the present demand trends continue in the LA South Bay. The impact of he current national economy situation and related credit issues will continue to put a negative drag on prices and the recovery in the local real estate market.

Application


In the summer of 2005 prices peaked for one month and the price trend started to level off. That was the start of a high risk time period a market down turn was forecasted. The Market Sentiment peaked at that time and started going down confirming the price peak. The sales volume also peaked and started going down. The Unsold Index was moving into the Buyers market zone. All this was forecasting a change in the market and an end to upward price momentum. Prices were relatively flat from the price peak in the summer of 2005 to the January 2007.Another price peak occurred which was an unconfirmed price peak, at a time which did not justify the continued higher prices. Most of the South Bay Home price decline occurred after the summer of 2008. The purpose of this newsletter is determine risk levels when deciding to buy or sell real estate. At present a low risk buy signal from March 2009 remains in effect.

Current Recommended Action - Low risk - Buy signal, Sellers in control market is near in most South Bay Cities. Possible risk level changes may occur in the near future.

 

Graphs and Indicators
 

Median and Average Home Prices - LA South Bay - January 2000 thru May 2010 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Average SB Home Price -  June 2010 = $602,303
Median SB Home Price - June 2010 = $422,500

Average SB Home Price -  May  2010 = $682,088
Median  SB Home Price  - May   2010 = $488,650

**Average (Sum of the Sold prices divided by
The number of homes sold). The average pricei s dependant on the cost of each unit price, high end or low end priced homes.

*Median ( half of homes sold above and half of homes sold below this price).this is more of a measure of the prices of homes being sold not their actual value.

These are relative values, both average and median proces are  not direct measurements of home value.
Median home price show where the buying is occurring
.

Condition   - Average prices are on a Short term uptrend trend and a long term downtrend. Median Prices are up slightly since January 2009    

   

South Bay Sold Properties Price Distribution

Sold Price Distribution     

Median Price June 2010 = $422,500

 

June 2010 Minimum Home Price = $70,000

June 2010 Maximum Home Price = 6.40 Million 

 

 

Unsold Index LA South Bay

 

 

 

Unsold Index

June 2010 = 3.55  months 

May 2010 = 3.52 months

Current Condition - Balanced with  strong Seller bias

Legend:

0 - 2 Months = Sellers' Market
2 - 6 months = Neutral Market
6 - 12 months = Buyers' Market
12+ Months = Strong Home Buyers' Market

Total Inventory LA South Bay

 

Total Inventory - The number home on the market at the beginning of each month.

June 2010 = 2i58 units

May 2010 = 2015 units

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

South Bay Home Affordability Comparison

 

 

Local Home Affordability

Annual Household Income Required To Purchase A Median Priced  LA South Bay Home. (Based on 80% financing)

The median price home purchased in August of 2007 would require a household income of $185,173 (lowest affordability). The optimum time to buy in this cycle was in January 2009, where the income required was only $90,195 for the same median home (about 50% less required income). In June 2010 the required income was $97,526. The lower median price and lower interest rates have improved affordability in June, but it has not produced a higher affordability than January of 2009.

This Graph is important for extremes and trends and not the actual data values you may use because your financing is most likely different, however the affordability comparisons are the same.

 

Price Momentum Charts

 

 

 

 

Price Momentum

The Median Price Graph (June 2003 thru June 2010.) is shown with the same date range as the momentum charts below it. 

Note the price peaks in the summers of 2005 and 2007.

Price Momentum (12 month simple moving average) is a measure of the rate of change of  prices. Above the zero line indicates positive price momentum, below the line, negative price momentum. The farther away from the zero line the stronger the price momentum. A zero value indicates no price momentum(acceleration or deceleration in prices). We now see  price momentum near the zero line indicating at least for the moment median price momentum has stalled.

Rate Of Change In Price Momentum  (12 month simple moving Average)                       

This is the 12 month simple moving average of the price rate of change chart above. This chart is showing price rate of change  is still increasing in the positive direction but at a slower rate than the past few months  An unconfirmed peak occured in Nov.2009 alerting  a possible price trend change to a downtrend. Previous peaks indicated market turns. This is a  measure of accelerating or decelerating momentum The rate  of momentum. At this pont in time the change in the rate of momentum has also stalled, the direction or power behind the momentum is weak at least as far as median prices are concerned.

 

PSR Ratios

 

 

Ratio Percentage Of Homes in Escrow 


25-45% = Balanced Market
less than 25% = Buyers' market
Greater than 45% =Sellers' market

Values over 100% were obtained in 2005


The Cities of Gardena and Hawthorne were the  the strongest segment in the South Bay for June 2010 with a PSR's over 93.8%

Hermosa Beach was the weakest area in this study with a PSR of 37.2%.

Number Of Foreclosures LA County

 

LA County Foreclosures - Last 9 Quarters

 

 

South Bay Foreclosure Vs. All Sales

LA County Foreclosures

In July of 2008, A new law went into effect; 30 days notice had to be given to a homeowner warning the homeowner that his mortgage was in trouble before the NOD could be filed.

The middle bar chart shows the quarterly foreclosure history since the first quarter of 2007.

Foreclosures for 2008 surpassed the last peak of 1996. After the foreclosures peaked in 1996 the market started its last boom in real estate prices. Therefore we are looking for a peak year of foreclosures to market the bottom of the market and start of a new leg up. From the quarterly graph it looks like that may have already occurred but stay tuned for further data confirming the peak in foreclosures keep an eye on the bottom foreclosure chart..

The number of foreclosures is defined as the number of Notice Of Defaults (NOD's) filed for loans, not the number of individual homes in foreclosure, for example, one home can have several notices of default filed if there are multiple loans on that home that are in default.

LA South Bay MLS Foreclosures VS. All Solds Comparison

The bottom curve in the chart represents distressed property sales consisting of properties in the foreclosure process and bank owned properties.

The top curve represents standard sales. Distressed sales are stable at less that 20% of total sales.

 

 

Buyer Sentiment - LA South Bay  

 

Buyer Sentiment

This is an indicator of Home-Buyer Conviction

June 2010 = 51.07 
May 2010 = 51.04 

 



Market peak value = 94.14  July 2005
(Confirmed peak price)

Market Condition - Buyer sentiment continues to improve

 

Sales Volume History LA South Bay

 

Residential Sales Volume

June 2010 = 607 units

May 2010 = 572 units

 

 

Mean value of monthly sales - 502 Units


 

 

        

Days On The Market For A New Listing Distribution

Average Days On The Market For A New Listing

June 2010 - 64.30 days

May 2010 - 63.86 days



 

 

        

** 3 month average

Location Segments

The Location Segments are used to determine the Relative strength of the Real Estate market
for an individual City

For June 2010 the strongest markets was found in the city of  Gardena. The weakest area was found in Hermosa Beach. The 3 month average for new construction was 4.33 months. The new home inventory is remains extremely low


      

Price Segments

Price Segments are used to determine the relative strength of several price ranges.

For June 2010  the strongest price segments was the range between $350,000 to $500,000 segment, The weakest price segment was in the 2.5 million to 5.0 million range however that segment improved dramatically from May's value

 

 

Interest Rates Trends Comparison

10 Year Treasury Note Yield vs. Mortgage rate.

Thie bottom line in the chart show Treasury note yields in the open market. The top line shows corresponding mortgage rates for the past 6 months. 

 

    

Selected South Bay City Median Price -Townhomes And Houses

 

Manhattan Beach - zipcode 90266

SFR and Townhomes

 Torrance - zipcodes 90503, 90505

SFR and Townhomes

Redondo Beach - zipcodes 90277, 90278

SFR and Townhomes

San Pedro - zipcode 90732

All Property ypes

 

Barry Brickel J.D.

Risk Free Investing

CA Real Estate Broker # 00947259
Keller Williams South Bay
Torrance, CA

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Resources

The data used for LA South Bay Real Estate is obtained from the Greator South Bay MLS areas 101-193, (North Inglewood to San Pedro), Clarus Market Metrics, LA Business Journal, LA County Assessors Records, Dataquick Information Services, US Census Bureau, and the National Association of Realtors.

Copyrighted Material 2002-2010

The Website content ,hard copies and email versions of this newsletter were created by Barry Brickel for use by his clients and potential clients. All of the  of the content, charts, graphs and indicators are copyrighted by Barry Brickel. J.D..

Disclaimer
All data representations and conclusions are the sole opinions of Barry Brickel J.D. and are not to be construed  as a recommendation to buy, sell. invest or transfer real Estate or relied upon for such purposes.

 

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