A Look at the Upper End of the Real Estate Market

October 8, 2009

This year the bottom end of the real estate market has been doing phenomenally well. As you could tell from yesterday's posting, the volume of sales has been very high for the past year. However, much of the activity has been in the $350,000 or less price range. In June I decided to begin watching the over $400,000 data. In this short amount of time, the number of sales has begun to increase. On most of the 14 communities that I track, listings were available, but sales were quite slow. While this over $400,000 market is not robust, it does indicate that it is improving.

Here is the data of numbers of listings, pendings, back-up postings (Properties that have an accepted offer, but perhaps have significant contingencies.), and closed transactions.

Banning/Beaumont......Listings/22.......Pendings/1........Back-up/0........Closed/1

Bloomington..................Listings/2.........Pendings/0........Back-up/0........Closed/0

Colton.............................Listings/6..........Pendings/2........Back-up/1........Closed/0

Fontana..........................Listings/21........Pendings/10......Back-up/1........Closed/2

Grand Terrace...............Listings/2..........Pendings/0........Back-up/0.......Closed/0

Highland........................Listings/19........Pendings/3........Back-up/0.......Closed/2

Loma Linda...................Listings/10........Pendings/3........Back-up/0.......Closed/2

Mentone........................Listings/2..........Pendings/0........Back-up/0.......Closed/0

Moreno Valley..............Listings/10........Pendings/0........Back-up/1........Closed/0

Redlands.......................Listings/86........Pendings/13......Back-up/13......Closed/14

Rialto.............................Listings/2..........Pendings/1.........Back-up/0.......Closed/0

Riverside.......................Listings/188.....Pendings/70.......Back-up/15.....Closed/24

San Bernardino............Listings/16.......Pendings/2..........Back-up/1.......Closed/0

Yucaipa/Calimesa.......Listings/66.......Pendings/8..........Back-up/5.......Closed/4

Many of the communities with low numbers in the present over $400,000 market, also had low numbers in the years prior to 2005 and 2006. The recovery of this market will be interesting to watch.

Today, this segment of the real estate market has been slowed by the reluctance on the part of many lenders to make loans and the inability of move-up buyers to sell their existing home. Even if a homeowner could sell the existing home, the equity may have been too small to allow for the amount of down payment needed for a purchase.