More Actives & Fewer Sales

by | Apr 17, 2024 | Actives/Pendings, Jim's Take on the Market

There isn’t as much fluff as we used to have in the pre-pandemic days.

In March 2019, there were 6,026 homes for sale, but only 2,554 sold, which means there were lots of sellers and agents on the open market who were in price-discovery mode – and they found out what the market wouldn’t bear.

We’re heading back that way again.

For the last three years, we’ve been spoiled by maximum demand (caused by low inventory combined with low rates). But now that both are creeping upward, there will be sellers/agents who are overly-optimistic and don’t factor the negative impact into their equation.

Last month’s ratio of 2,871/1,950 = 1.47 is still better than the 2019 numbers of 6,026/2,554 = 2.36, but don’t be surprised to see an upward trend of unsold listings forming over the next few months.

Frenzy Monitor By Area

by | Jul 21, 2022 | 2022, Actives/Pendings, Frenzy, Frenzy Monitor, North County Coastal, NSDCC Pendings | 1 comment

The reason for breaking down the active and pending listings by zip code is to give the readers a closer look at their neighborhood stats.

In the recent years prior to the pandemic, the actives/pendings in Rancho Santa Fe ran at a 10:1 pace.  Nobody is in a hurry there, they don’t have to sell, and they’re not going to give it away.  Those days appear to be coming back.

The median list price of those RSF actives is $5,995,000 – is anyone going to feel sorry for them? Probably not. Does it reflect what is going on in the rest of the area? Not really – the other areas are mostly around a 2:1 ratio (except La Jolla) which has been our standard for a healthy market and pretty good, all considered.

In 2020, we had 400+ pendings from June 22nd to November 30th – with a peak of 491 pendings on September 7, 2020.

Frenzy Monitor

by | Jun 20, 2022 | Actives/Pendings, Frenzy Monitor, North County Coastal, NSDCC Pendings | 2 comments

Let’s break down the active and pending listings by zip code is to give you a closer look at the neighborhood stats.  We’re going to have more active listings simply because the the list prices were all based on red-hot frenzy conditions (comps + 5% or more), and we’re past the red-hot days.

NSDCC Actives and Pendings

Town/Area
Zip Code
Feb 27
Mar 16
May 5
Jun 20
Cardiff
92007
5/7
6/4
7/7
13/5
Carlsbad NW
92008
6/9
8/10
15/10
27/10
Carlsbad SE
92009
15/29
8/33
20/27
47/25
Carlsbad NE
92010
1/5
2/6
7/14
17/11
Carlsbad SW
92011
2/11
4/12
8/16
19/19
Carmel Valley
92130
10/31
10/30
22/25
50/18
Del Mar
92014
15/32
17/10
24/13
30/8
Encinitas
92024
15/32
17/28
24/32
46/26
La Jolla
92037
53/38
55/35
51/32
72/24
Rancho Santa Fe
92067
45/22
47/24
49/22
52/25
Rancho Santa Fe
92091
2/2
5/2
2/0
3/2
Solana Bch
92075
6/6
3/10
9/7
12/5
NSDCC
All Above
179/205
182/204
238/205
388/178

The selling season started early in 2022, and was cooking by the end of February. Let’s group the different areas based on how their pendings are holding up.

Frenzy-ish:

Carlsbad SW – A few houses finally went up for sale, and buyers responded.

Rancho Santa Fe – The active listings aren’t growing like in the other high-end areas of Del Mar and La Jolla, and the number of pendings are very impressive. It was once normal when the Ranch had a 10:1 ratio between actives and pendings!

Normal-ish:

Everyone else, except……

Crash Zone

Carmel Valley – which has always had more pendings than actives over the last two years – and sometimes twice as many pendings!  While having 50 actives and 18 pendings anywhere else would be a win, in the CV it feels like a meltdown.

Here they are:

(I tried to sort those by price order, but all they have is sort by date added)

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This nonsense about every buyer paying way over list price has to stop.  If the SP:LP was around 100% we’d be elated, yet it was 111%, 109%, and 109% in the February-April stretch.

So far in June, the SP:LP is 107% for the 104 detached-home sales between Carlsbad and La Jolla!

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We can also track the average market times too.  Any upward trends here would indicate market slowing – it’s early so nothing too startling yet:

The hottest of the red-hot was in 2020, when we had 400+ pendings from June 22nd to November 30th – with a peak of 491 pendings on 9/7/2020. Today we have 178 pendings.

Inventory Watch

by | Jun 20, 2022 | Actives/Pendings, Inventory, North County Coastal | 1 comment

Buyers thought this was a holiday weekend, and sellers didn’t!

It was the week that the actives-to-pendings ratio between La Jolla and Carlsbad crossed back over the ideal 2:1 range, which is what we have observed to be the sign of a healthy market in the past.

Last week: 354/202, or 1.75

This week: 388/177, or 2.19

Here is the breakdown by price range:

NSDCC Actives and Pendings

Price Range
Active Listings
Pending Listings
A/P
0-$1.5M
46
22
2.1
$1.5-$2.0M
57
41
1.4
$2.0-$3.0M
91
59
1.5
$3.0-$4.0M
52
26
2.0
$4.0M+
148
35
4.2

The high-end firmly believes that it takes longer to sell the uber-expensive homes, so they are happy to wait for their magic moment – and typically have the resources to do so.

I wrote offers for buyers around the $2,000,000 range, and both listing agents claimed to have multiple offers.  It may take longer to reach an accepted offer these days as listing agents wait for better deals to arrive, so let’s check back on the pendings in a couple of days.

This is what Plateau City looks like – plenty of unsolds preferring to sit, than reduce.

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The $0 – $1,500,000 Market:

Date
NSDCC Active Listings
Avg. LP/sf
Avg. DOM
# of Pendings
Jan 3, 2022
9
$832/sf
35
36
Jan 10
9
$766/sf
28
29
Jan 17
13
$773/sf
26
27
Jan 24
9
$818/sf
15
29
Jan 31
14
$752/sf
14
31
Feb 7
13
$774/sf
12
32
Feb 14
11
$826/sf
12
35
Feb 21
7
$889/sf
17
38
Feb 28
12
$888/sf
17
33
Mar 7
9
$1,017/sf
21
33
Mar 14
14
$847/sf
18
31
Mar 21
8
$912/sf
26
36
Mar 28
10
$914/sf
25
28
Apr 4
10
$782/sf
33
34
Apr 11
19
$733/sf
21
36
Apr 18
16
$795/sf
28
34
Apr 25
18
$891/sf
27
30
May 2
22
$822/sf
23
31
May 9
24
$887/sf
17
46
May 16
25
$783/sf
22
25
May 23
29
$782/sf
23
29
May 30
30
$782/sf
24
28
Jun 6
34
$763/sf
25
28
Jun 13
33
$802/sf
29
29
Jun 20
48
$774/sf
28
22

The $1,500,000 – $2,000,000 Market:

Date
NSDCC Active Listings
Avg. LP/sf
Avg. DOM
# of Pendings
Jan 3, 2022
8
$842/sf
52
36
Jan 10
13
$751/sf
28
29
Jan 17
16
$736/sf
33
27
Jan 24
16
$801/sf
17
27
Jan 31
15
$696/sf
14
34
Feb 7
15
$765/sf
17
34
Feb 14
10
$726/sf
19
38
Feb 21
19
$715/sf
15
39
Feb 28
9
$660/sf
12
46
Mar 7
16
$789/sf
15
46
Mar 14
17
$837/sf
8
44
Mar 21
18
$867/sf
11
43
Mar 28
14
$838/sf
15
48
Apr 4
18
$762/sf
25
42
Apr 11
23
$774/sf
15
39
Apr 18
22
$792/sf
17
41
Apr 25
18
$810/sf
20
41
May 2
27
$809/sf
17
37
May 9
33
$837/sf
17
46
May 16
39
$793/sf
19
44
May 23
43
$793/sf
22
44
May 30
36
$843/sf
23
36
Jun 6
43
$817/sf
23
41
Jun 13
49
$845/sf
24
42
Jun 20
57
$817/sf
24
41

The $2,000,000 – $3,000,000 Market:

Date
NSDCC Active Listings
Avg. LP/sf
Avg. DOM
# of Pendings
Jan 3, 2022
18
$1,080/sf
127
43
Jan 10
23
$1,038/sf
85
37
Jan 17
26
$1,044/sf
80
41
Jan 24
28
$1,015/sf
37
42
Jan 31
22
$949/sf
38
47
Feb 7
26
$919/sf
29
42
Feb 14
22
$997/sf
37
49
Feb 21
21
$966/sf
33
54
Feb 28
26
$905/sf
32
57
Mar 7
29
$922/sf
28
57
Mar 14
20
$852/sf
26
58
Mar 21
17
$928/sf
26
60
Mar 28
34
$927/sf
12
65
Apr 4
32
$927/sf
20
69
Apr 11
44
$910/sf
17
62
Apr 18
48
$997/sf
19
66
Apr 25
42
$1,092/sf
18
73
May 2
54
$995/sf
19
70
May 9
61
$910/sf
20
73
May 16
64
$977/sf
22
69
May 23
82
$953/sf
25
59
May 30
78
$951/sf
27
56
Jun 6
94
$963/sf
27
58
Jun 13
98
$961/sf
28
70
Jun 20
91
$935/sf
32
59

The $3,000,000 – $4,000,000 Market:

Date
NSDCC Active Listings
Avg. LP/sf
Avg. DOM
# of Pendings
Jan 3, 2022
19
$1,230/sf
90
26
Jan 10
22
$1,210/sf
76
25
Jan 17
19
$1,207/sf
86
23
Jan 24
17
$1,129/sf
92
24
Jan 31
21
$1,172/sf
70
22
Feb 7
19
$1,169/sf
67
25
Feb 14
19
$1,234/sf
65
28
Feb 21
21
$1,279/sf
69
28
Feb 28
22
$1,214/sf
64
25
Mar 7
27
$1,295/sf
60
24
Mar 14
27
$1,201/sf
65
27
Mar 21
23
$1,282/sf
69
31
Mar 28
25
$1,253/sf
67
30
Apr 4
30
$1,199/sf
61
27
Apr 11
32
$1,174/sf
62
31
Apr 18
33
$1,216/sf
68
31
Apr 25
33
$1,219/sf
63
33
May 2
37
$1,164/sf
50
36
May 9
33
$1,132/sf
57
32
May 16
40
$1,119/sf
53
32
May 23
40
$1,135/sf
57
27
May 30
40
$1,178/sf
61
28
Jun 6
43
$1,224/sf
56
28
Jun 13
48
$1,184/sf
52
28
Jun 20
52
$1,117/sf
53
26

The $4,000,000+ Market:

Date
NSDCC Active Listings
Avg. LP/sf
Avg. DOM
# of Pendings
Jan 3, 2022
100
$1,884/sf
128
30
Jan 10
105
$1,864/sf
113
29
Jan 17
109
$1,763/sf
110
34
Jan 24
105
$2,130/sf
114
42
Jan 31
102
$2,114/sf
118
53
Feb 7
109
$2,000/sf
108
50
Feb 14
108
$2,005/sf
109
47
Feb 21
113
$2,008/sf
103
43
Feb 28
111
$1,991/sf
101
47
Mar 7
115
$1,904/sf
91
39
Mar 14
121
$1,893/sf
95
43
Mar 21
116
$1,905/sf
97
44
Mar 28
104
$1,966/sf
97
59
Apr 4
103
$1,929/sf
97
56
Apr 11
106
$1,906/sf
97
55
Apr 18
108
$1,874/sf
100
51
Apr 25
116
$1,829/sf
97
38
May 2
117
$1,781/sf
95
32
May 9
116
$1,831/sf
96
36
May 16
124
$1,854/sf
91
39
May 23
125
$1,855/sf
92
36
May 30
129
$1,706/sf
93
39
Jun 6
131
$1,740/sf
89
33
Jun 13
132
$1,793/sf
86
38
Jun 20
148
$1,772/sf
84
35

NSDCC Weekly New Listings and New Pendings

Week
New Listings
New Pendings
Total Actives
Total Pendings
Jan 3, 2022
17
14
152
164
Jan 10
39
18
167
142
Jan 17
34
29
179
145
Jan 24
41
40
173
157
Jan 31
43
40
173
182
Feb 7
43
38
179
179
Feb 14
44
49
168
193
Feb 21
51
38
180
197
Feb 28
39
39
179
205
Mar 7
54
37
191
195
Mar 14
48
51
195
196
Mar 21
39
46
178
207
Mar 28
53
50
185
224
Apr 4
46
40
190
220
Apr 11
61
39
221
213
Apr 18
41
46
224
212
Apr 25
50
43
224
205
May 2
76
37
256
196
May 9
59
46
262
207
May 16
78
48
286
200
May 23
61
42
312
192
May 30
54
44
307
183
Jun 6
70
31
338
183
Jun 13
60
41
354
202
Jun 20
71
25
388
177

The Slow Unwind

by | May 12, 2022 | 2022, Actives/Pendings, Jim's Take on the Market, Market Conditions, Slow Unwind | 2 comments

Even though real estate is local, the homebuyer psychology tends to be similar across the country – mostly because people are people, and have similar reactions to every variable.  When they see mortgage rates go from 3% to 5.5% in less than six months, it’s only natural to want to pause and see where this goes.

But the desperation among buyers – especially those who are out-of-towners and don’t own a home here yet – hasn’t changed, due to the low inventory.  It is unsettling to see so few of the quality homes coming to market, and they want/need to stay in the game so they don’t miss out.  It would take a flood of new listings to change that, which isn’t happening. At least not yet.

Let’s have the statistics help guide us on current market conditions.

1. We have considered the local real estate market to be ‘healthy’ when the active listings to pendings has been 2:1 ratio. Here are the detached-home listings between Carlsbad and La Jolla:

Monday:

Actives: 262

Pendings: 207

Thursday (today):

Actives: 262

Pendings: 202

The current ratio is very healthy, and the actives aren’t exploding.  Last year at this time there were 330 active listings, so only having 262 homes for sale in an area with a population of 300,000+ people isn’t bad. The only startling part is that there aren’t more homes for sale!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

2. Let’s talk absorption rate, another measuring stick for the health of the market.  The historic norm for a healthy market has been a 6-months’ supply of homes for sale.  In recent years, a 3-month supply has seemed to be more realistic, just because the supply has been limited.

What is it today?

There were 225 sales in April, so the 262 active listings is only a 1.2-month supply.  We would need 675 active listings to have a three-month supply, which sounds impossible in the current environment.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

3. How about the market time of the current pendings?  Is it taking longer to find a buyer these days?  Yes.  The median days-on-market for homes sold in the early months of 2022 has been nine days.  The current pendings have a median days-on market of 12 days, which isn’t alarming and still extremely low.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

4. Have the number of actives and pendings been consistent in 2022?

Yes, especially the pendings:

So while there is talk about a shift in the market, it may just be a pause. Statistically, the market looks steady – there isn’t a surge of unsold homes, and there are still plenty going into escrow every week.

If there aren’t as many buyers looking, and there aren’t crazy numbers of offers, then it’s just going back to a more-normal market. Not normal yet, but heading that way.

The list prices have been on a rampage, and it’s probably time for them to stop going up so much every month. It was going to happen sooner or later, and that day has probably arrived – finally!

Can’t Buy What’s Not For Sale

by | May 5, 2022 | Actives/Pendings, Market Conditions

The talking heads are saying that higher rates are slowing sales, and I say it’s the lack of inventory.

If higher rates were the cause, we would see more active listings piling up.

This chart shows how the pendings have dropped off from last year – especially those in yellow:

The active-listing counts aren’t any higher – there are just fewer listings overall.

NSDCC Frenzy Monitor

by | Mar 16, 2022 | Actives/Pendings, Frenzy Monitor | 1 comment

Let’s see which areas are picking up steam early in the selling season:

We used to think that a normal and healthy market has a ratio of 2:1 actives to pendings, so it’s stunning to see five areas that have 3x the number of pendings as actives! And SE Carlsbad has more than 4x!

The trend of the average days-on-market can give us a feel for the market direction too:

In 2020, we had 400+ pendings from June 22nd to November 30th – with a peak of 491 pendings on September 7, 2020.

Last year, the high pending count was 386 on May 12th – and this year’s peak will likely be in May too.

It looks like I made an error on the Del Mar A/P counts in the last reading.

San Diego County Actives & Pendings

by | Dec 30, 2021 | 2021, Actives/Pendings, Sales and Price Check

Tom asked on our Facebook page about getting the actives and pendings data for San Diego County.  Here is the InfoSparks data from the SDAR Resources page on the MLS – they are interactive so scroll over the graph lines for the exact counts:




The first graph charts the number of active listings on the last day of the month, the second graph shows the number of new listings in each month, the third graph shows the number of properties that were marked ‘pending’ in each month, and the fourth is the actual sales counts each month.

My initial reactions to each graph:

Active Listings: The frenzy let up in June/July, but it’s back now – and the last few months have been brutal for buyers. On the last day of November, 2019 we had 4,068 actives, and last month we had 1,420.

New Listings: Hard to grasp the cumulative effect so I calculated annual number of listings. In 2021 we have had 16% fewer listings than in 2018.

Pending Sales: This November’s count was almost identical to last year – which was the all-time high!

Sold Listings: The total number of sales for the year is 9% ahead of last year, and we’re not done yet!

Frenzy Monitor

by | Sep 23, 2021 | 2021, Actives/Pendings, Frenzy, Frenzy Monitor

The reason for breaking down the active and pending listings by zip code is to give the readers a closer look at their neighborhood stats.

It’s interesting to see that the total number of actives and pendings are so similar – as close as they were in late-June as the max frenzy was unwinding. The big split in the counts on August 11th made it look like the frenzy was coming apart, but they’ve gotten back in line nicely since:

But with fewer homes for sale combined with the time of year, we probably won’t see much change.  Let’s call it low-grade frenzy conditions for now.

The average days on market is creeping upward, but still no big concerns. There will always be sellers who would rather wait for the lucky sale, than adjust their price – and longer average market times indicate more sellers doing the former. Though we should note that the hottest range ($1.5 – $2.0) must have a lot of dogs lying around:

San Diego County has experienced the worst YoY change of active listings IN THE NATION. Three thousand houses for sale in a county of 3.3 million people? Yikes!!

And that was the August report.  Today in San Diego County:

ACTIVES: 1,760

PENDINGS: 2,600

Wow!

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