March 2023 Hi Desert Real Estate Market Update

Happy Green Month Fans,

Spring is almost here! With our wet winter should come an explosion of color with a prolific wildflower season. As our weeds are getting taller and taller so grows our inventory. At this point though, our buyers have not yet returned to our market as we would hope. Maybe with a little luck and good economic news, they will be returning this season. At this writing, it appears there may be a chance for mortgage rates to drop into the 6% range the next few weeks which would be good news for us.

Our market has been stalled since last June. In the last four months we have closed 303 escrows compared to 750 the previous year. This is quite the adjustment. Add in that today our current inventory shows 43% of listings have lowered their price (out of 573 active listings, 12 have raised their price). Buyers are confused and do not want to make a mistake. I believe many are on the sidelines waiting for a major price correction which I just don’t see materializing. We may see some minor price adjustments but for the most part, I expect prices to stay pretty close to where they are today.

Bottom line is we need a good spring season to heal our market.

Other Update highlights include-

For the first time since I have been preparing these Updates, both Joshua Tree and Twentynine Palms have more inventory for sale than Yucca Valley.

We have had four straight months of closed escrows in the mid 70’s.

Yucca Valley is again the leader in sales with almost 40% of homes sold.

Days on Market remain within national averages.

Have a great St. Patrick’s celebration. Let’s all keep our fingers crossed that the wild flowers bring wild buyers.

Sincerely,

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