We are only able to sell what’s for sale, so the direction of the frenzy depends on inventory.
If we get a surge of inventory, then sales will increase.
If we don’t get a surge of inventory, then bidding wars and prices go crazy.
We saw the differences here where the inventory shortage under $1,500,000 is particularly acute.
When looking at inventory by area, it’s the same thing. We are comparing to non-Covid years and this month isn’t done yet, but you can see below that the number of houses coming on the market is well under what it’s been in the past:
January Total SFR Listings By Area
Year | ||||
2017 | ||||
2018 | ||||
2019 | ||||
2020 | ||||
2021 MTD |
We have 123 listings so far this month and we might get up to 150 by Sunday – but even that will be 25% under last year’s count at a time when we probably have twice as many buyers in the hunt.
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Carlsbad, Encinitas, and Carmel Valley = 105 sales MTD, and 53% sold for original list price or higher.
(last January was 124 sales)