April 2025 Hi-Desert Real Estate Market Update

Spring Greetings Fans,

This is my favorite season of the year along with summer. Things are just so warm and nice. Flowers are blooming, the wind is warmer, and pool time is right around the corner.

Things are not warming up like usual in our real estate market. Spring and early summer tend to be some of our biggest sales periods. Currently we are seventeen closed escrows behind last year. This is disappointing. Most Realtors I speak with feel like things are better this year, but the numbers do not lie. Last week, mortgage rates dropped into the high 5% to low 6% range. By the end of the week, they were back up to the high sixes. Today they are in the low 7% range. We need these rates to drop into the low 6% range for buyers to feel encouraged to get back into the market.

Another big issue our local market must deal with is inventory. At this writing we have 844 active listings. This is the most we have seen in our local market for some time. Maybe even historically. Since we closed escrow on 73 houses last month, we can see we currently have a year’s worth of inventory (inventory divided by closed escrows). The industry considers it a balanced market when there is six months of inventory. Locally we are more balanced when we have about 400 to 500 listings. It is hard for Sellers to cut through the inventory fog with anything but price. I am seeing sold homes are the properties that are priced right to start. Listing high to test the market is a recipe for failure. If you are selling, price it right to start.

Other highlights of this Update include-

1. As noted above, inventory when I wrote this update was 827. Today it is 844!
2. Average prices are interesting. Last month Yucca Valley was the most expensive area to purchase (on average). Followed by Joshua Tree and Twentynine Palms. Joshua Tree was the least expensive that I have seen in several years. The numbers in Joshua Tree can fluctuate more than the other two communities because it has lower sales to average. For the last five years, Joshua Tree has been our most expensive community to purchase. Not last month! The biggest surprise is Twentynine Palms. The average cost of a home last month was $280k+. This is the most I have seen in Twentynine Palms since I have kept records.
3. 79% of sales were below $400,000.
4. The most expensive home sold was $750,000. It is in Yucca Valley.

As always, if you know of someone who can use help in our local market, please share my contact with them. Enjoy the season!

Sincerely,

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