It is March 1, 2017 – You heard the real estate headline: 3.7% increase in Jan 2017 from the December 2016 for new homes sold in the United States. That is a nice-to-know, but it is too high level to be meaningful to us. You need information that is more grounded in your area, because the real estate markets are localized even if they may follow the general trend. I will give you the stats for February 2017 to answer your burning questions: How is the Fountain Valley market? How is the Huntington Beach housing market? How many homes were sold in Fountain Valley? How many homes were sold in Huntington Beach? Well, look no further – all your answers are here.
With any data, the key to extracting information is comparing it with another meaningful data set. Included is the comparison against the previous month (January 2017) and last year (February 2016). Below data were sourced from MLS directly for the respective periods. Sold means sale closed.
For Fountain Valley / Northeast HB homes:
| Detached homes sold | Average Closing Price | Average Days on Market (DOM) | Active Listings | New Listings | Type of Market | |
| Feb 2017 | 13 | $816,000 | 29 | 26 | 18 | Seller’s market |
| Jan 2017 | 17 | $752,000 | 20 | 30 | 26 | Seller’s market |
| Feb 2016 | 15 | $666,000 | 53 | 50 | 38 | Seller’s market |
| Attached homes, condos, townhouses Sold | Average Closing Price | Average Days on Market (DOM) | Active Listings | New Listings | Type of Market | |
| Feb 2017 | 7 | $491,000 | 47 | 22 | 17 | Seller’s market |
| Jan 2017 | 12 | $498,000 | 63 | 21 | 13 | Seller’s market |
| Feb 2016 | 7 | $525,000 | 28 | 27 | 18 | Neutral |
For South Huntington Beach homes:
| Detached homes sold | Average Closing Price | Average Days on Market (DOM) | Active Listings | New Listings | Type of Market | |
| Feb 2017 | 18 | $838,000* | 37 | 38 | 27 | Seller’s market |
| Jan 2017 | 9 | $931,000 | 56 | 37 | 32 | Neutral |
| Feb 2016 | 18 | $868,000* | 77 | 48 | 29 | Seller’s market |
*You may have noticed Feb 2017 sale price is lower than Feb 2016 – The reason: 3 homes over $1.05M were sold in Feb 2016 versus 1 home in Feb 2017. This drove the average price higher.
| Attached homes, condos, townhouses Sold | Average Closing Price | Average Days on Market (DOM) | Active Listings | New Listings | Type of Market | |
| Feb 2017 | 14 | $471,000 | 37 | 35 | 24 | Seller’s market |
| Jan 2017 | 12 | $497,000 | 53 | 24 | 23 | Seller’s market |
| Feb 2016 | 15 | $426,000 | 69 | 52 | 26 | Seller’s market |
As you can see the average home prices for the two groups have increased from last year. Why? The secret is out: Fountain Valley and Huntington Beach continue to be highly desirable locations. The market continues to be a strong seller’s market with continued low inventory (e.g. FV detached home inventory is almost 50% versus last year). Home supply is low, which means competition is fierce – so good news for sellers, not so good news for buyers. If you are a seller, then you want to put your property out on the market. If you are a buyer, then get ready to make the best and strongest offer. Until the market turns around, sellers are in the driver seat and they have a choice of the litter!
Matthew