By: Melissa McCue

As is to be expected, I am continually asked questions about the health of the local real estate market. Rather than just giving the static, “The market is great!” response, I prefer to have concrete information to share because it gives my clients a clear and accurate picture of the market rather than just a vague idea or “feeling”. Many times the information that I compile is time consuming because most systems that offer automated market statistics just don’t pinpoint the exact information that I’m after. So I find myself exporting information from the local multiple listing service and diving into spreadsheets until I reach a point of clarity.

Every time that I sit down to begin that task, I wonder whether the outcome will be favorable to the market. Fortunately, of late, the outcome has consistently and increasingly been good, and the 1st Quarter of 2013 is no exception. The most striking result in this short term look at the numbers is that compared to the 1st quarter of 2012, our median price is up close to double digits,  at 9.68%. Just a few months ago when I gathered the 2012 year end numbers, the median price was up just 3.63%.

Equally interesting, is that the number of sales in Q1 of 2013 are up 16.06% as compared to Q1 of 2012. One could look at this a slow in demand from the 2012 year end numbers, which showed a year over year increase of 28.6% in the number of sales.  If I had to make an educated guess about the reasons for that, it would be two fold; first, short term numbers can show temporary increases and decreases that change over the longer term. Secondly, our inventory continues to be dismally low. There are many buyers that are well qualified and serious about buying but just cannot find a home to purchase. It is not uncommon for buyers to schedule showings on multiple properties and then have one or more of the top picks go into escrow before they actually make it up here. This shows that the good houses are selling quickly! 
Melissa McCue (909) 855-4898.          

By Melissa McCue

The celebration of the New Year in many ways symbolizes hope and change, and this year we have some numbers that can give homeowners in the Big Bear area a real basis for that hope. The 2012 sales volume for single family residential (SFR) units came in at an increase of 28.6% over 2011. This is far above the California Association of Realtors projected statewide average increase of 5.1%.

The increase in sales volume is a positive sign, but to give an indication of real market change it should be accompanied by an increase in price, and for the first time in 5 years, it is! The median SFR price  for 2012 came in at an increase of  3.63% over 2011.

If I were a gambler, I would bet good money that the number of units sold and the increase in prices would have both risen even more if our inventory had not been so low. Since mid-year 2012 it has steadily declined from around 500 homes to around 350 homes.