Palm Springs Area - (Palm Springs, Cathedral City, Rancho Mirage, Desert Hot Springs, Palm Desert, La Quinta, Indio, Bermuda Dunes)
Inventory increased, sales declined and new listings increased slightly in all types of property this month. I expected this because of all the bad news in the credit markets, government bailouts, declining stock market.
The declines were very minimal, in fact November was almost identical to October.
Some explanations of my report:
Total Inventorytells us how many properties are on the market for sale. When inventory is rising, prices will fall because there are more properties competing for buyers.
When inventory is declining, prices will rise, such as we saw in 2004 to 2006.
Pendingstells us how many properties went into escrow for the month. This gives us a very quick picture of the current activity.
Charting “Solds” or actual closed escrows will provide pricing information but in a changing market such as we are in currently, it will not reflect an accurate picture, i.e., Solds usually were placed under contract at least 30 and sometimes as much as 90 days prior to title actually transferring to the new buyer.
| Type | Total Inventory | Pendings | New Listings | New Listings/Sales Ratio | Sales As Percent Of Inventory |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single Family Homes | 4780 | 352 | 965 | 2.7 to 1 | 7% |
| Condos | 1616 | 64 | 317 | 5 to 1 | 4% |
| Multi-Family | 206 | 5 | 37 | 5 to 1 | 3% |
Each month I reiterate you have to understand the numbers to really see what is happening in the marketplace. Anyone can make a case for whatever they want to project if they use the right numbers.
*REO – stands for Real Estate Owned and is a term that means Bank Owned Real Estate…obtained from a foreclosure action.
Hi, I'm Jeannie. For over 25 years I've helped investors make money in markets both good and bad. 
