April 2023 Hi Desert Real Estate Market Update

Happy Spring Fans,

What a crazy winter this year. We saw interest rates skyrocket with some of the quickest rate increases in 40 years. From my point of view, we had one of the coldest and wettest winters I can remember. It was just last Sunday we saw temperatures hit the high 70°s for the first time this year. We were still experiencing overnight temperatures in the 30°s this last week! With the weather bad news comes the beautifully stunning wildflower bloom we are now experiencing. The waves of purple and yellow flowers bring our local desert to life. What a great time to experience our High Desert communities.

Because of the high interest rates, I am not expecting a big volume of sales in this year’s spring market. Particularly comparing it to the last two years. But I do expect we will have sales in the range of 140 to 160 in the next few months. I assume the bulk of these sales will be under $500,000. Many short-term vacation homeowners are divesting. I expect there will be some good opportunities to buy a fully remodeled home for a fair price over the next few months. This should attract the retirement crowd who look for value but don’t want to waste time on remodeling.

March was a wild ride. Highlights include-

1. Inventory has stalled in the mid 500’s. It appears homes that have been for sale for a long period are dropping off while new listings are just keeping up with the dropped listings. I expected us to be closer to the mid 600’s by now.
2. We closed escrow on 113 homes last month compared to 223 last year.
3. Last month over 65% of homes sold were under $400,000.
4. Days on market remains within national averages of under 100 days for all our communities.

I hope you can take the time to go outdoors and enjoy this spring bloom. It should really be special. Have a great month.

Sincerely,

Bob Armstrong
(760) 221-2999
DRE #01275801
GREEN Real Estate Group