August 2023 Hi Desert Real Estate Update

Happy August Real Estate Fans,

Boy…July sure was hot. I think we had some of the hottest days I can ever remember in our Hi Desert communities. The weather sure slowed our real estate market down from the crawl it was already in. Then we get news of what is referred to as a 1,000 year flooding event, hurricane Hilary. Well, she came and went with very little damage to our communities. Both towns and the County reacted quickly and kept the damage to a minimum. People visiting this upcoming weekend will hardly see the remnants of Hilary.

As for the real estate market, things are slow but not dead. Homes under $400,000 dominate the sales in our market. In July, homes under this amount accounted for 75% of sales! Out of the 94 closed escrows, 70 were under $400,000. In our current listings, almost 50% are under this cap. To reverse this, almost 300 of our active listing last month fought for 25% of sales or 23 homes sold. Look for homes priced over $400,000 to be on the market longer. I expect we will continue to see these types of numbers into spring of next year.

Other highlights of the August Market Update include-

Inventory remains high, bouncing between 560 and 600 each week. There is a lot to choose from in our communities. What an incredible spread we have in housing prices. We have a home for sale at $18,000 on the low side and $18,000,000 (yes that’s million). That is quite the spread in housing cost!

As I mentioned above, we closed escrow on 94 homes last month. The last time our July closing were this low was 2015!

The most expensive home sold last month was in Yucca Valley. The sale price was $750,000. Make note of the second paragraph on how this mix in pricing makes homes over $500,000 difficult.

I trust you survived Hilary and are having a good month. Weather for September looks to be on the cool side and mostly under 90° all month. This could open a good real estate month for late September and October. If only the Fed’s would help, just a little.

Have a great month. I look forward to providing your September Update. As always, if you know someone who needs real estate help in our local communities, please put them in contact with me.

Sincerely,

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