August 2026 Hi-Desert Real Estate Market Update
Warm Greetings Real Estate Fans,
I feel like every summer gets hotter and hotter. Must be my age 😊
Our real estate market could drop temperatures dramatically. We are currently running about 14% behind last year’s sales. This is not good news. It looks like we will be waiting until next spring for hope in our market. Last month we sold seventy-nine residential properties compared to 102 last year. A deficit of twenty-one!
I thought I would focus on the main issue affecting our market. It’s one you hear nationwide but let me put some math to it for you. One word, affordability. I can only focus on the two incorporated areas in our community, Yucca Valley and Twentynine Palms. The County areas are harder to research because they span so much area and do not offer an accessible way to track like the incorporated areas.
Yucca Valley. The average household income for a family of four is between $60,000 to $67,000. The average monthly cost of living is estimated to be $5,600. This is about 18.5% higher than the national average but 21% lower than the State average. With the average cost of a home costing around $380,000, most families exceed their income. Trying to purchase a home in today’s market is near impossible for an average family. Families earning in this range can just barely make it each month whether they rent or own.
Twentynine Palms. The average household income for a family of four is between $60,000 and $65,000. Get this. The average cost of living is estimated to be $6,350. More than Yucca Valley! It is believed that the cost of childcare, food, and utilities are more expensive in Twentynine Palms than in Yucca Valley. Here is the good news. The cost of housing is much less, with the average home in the mid $200k range. Clearly the cost of living offsets the reduced cost of housing.
We hear it every day. Affordability. That is what is wrong with our real estate market. Either we need wages to increase or prices to come down. Since we rarely see prices drop, we need to watch incomes to see our real estate market return. At this point we have a tremendous number of vacant commercial buildings in Yucca Valley that are not generating jobs. Currently, I believe, our hope lies in the low desert. Some people just cannot handle the heat and will move to our Hi Desert instead.
Other interesting items in this month’s Update include-
- All three main communities’ houses sold last month were 3 beds, 2 bath homes. Usually Joshua Tree and/or Twentynine Palms average 2 beds.
- Yucca Valley had 46% of last month’s sales.
- Twentynine Palms was the only community last month to increase average sales price and average price per square foot.
- Inventory continues to decline. At the Update writing, we had 693 active listings (well below the 800 we have been averaging for the last two years). Today we have 671. More and more, Sellers are taking their homes off the market rather than reduce prices.
We can always find a solution and offer guidance to buyers and sellers. If you know someone who needs help with real estate, please share my contact. I would be honored to help.
Sincerely,
Bob Armstrong
(760) 221-2999
DRE #01275801
GREEN Real Estate Group
Bob Armstrong
