What's Happening in Your Neck of the Woods - Your Mid Year Real Estate Update for the Monterey Peninsula

Before we get into the mid- year market updates, I should mention that interest rates are inching up for the first time in a long time moving from the 2’s and 3’s to the 4’s and even 5’s for jumbo loans.  This upward trend is expected to continue as the economy improves further edifying that now is the time to buy especially if financing.

I’ve often commented that real estate is a local event and that even a few miles or in our case on the peninsula a few blocks can make a difference in sales, prices and days on market.  Let’s take a look at each individual area here and see the marked differences.

Monterey:
Inventory: 60 Recently Sold: 33 New Listings: 34 Distressed: 5
Monterey's home resale inventories decreased slightly, with a 2 percent decrease since May 2013. Distressed properties such as foreclosures and short sales remained the same as a percentage of the total market in June. The median listing price in Monterey went up from May to June. There were a total of 5 price increases and 24 price decreases.

Carmel:
Inventory: 131 Recently Sold: 36 New Listings: 38 Distressed: 0
Carmel's home inventories increased, with a 7 percent increase since May 2013. Distressed properties remained the same.  The median listing price in Carmel stayed the same from May to June. There were a total of 2 price increases and 15 price decreases. (these primarily from way overpriced listings)

Pacific Grove:
Inventory: 49 Recently Sold: 15 New Listings: 18 Distressed: 2
Pacific Grove's home inventories increased, with a 23 percent increase since May 2013. Distressed properties increased.  The median listing price in Pacific Grove stayed the same from May to June. There were a total of 0 price increases and 7 price decreases.

Pebble Beach:
Inventory: 83 Recently Sold: 20 New Listings: 21 Distressed: 0
Pebble Beach's inventories increased, with a 15 percent increase since May 2013. Distressed properties decreased. The median listing price in Pebble Beach went down from May to June. There were a total of 2 price increases and 14 price decreases.

Carmel Highlands:
Inventory: 20 Recently Sold: 5 New Listings: 3 Distressed: 0
Carmel Highlands's inventories decreased slightly, with a 5 percent decrease since May 2013. Distressed properties decreased. The median listing price in Carmel Highlands went down from May to June. There were a total of 1 price increase and 5 price decreases.

Salinas Monterey Highway:
Inventory: 66 Recently Sold: 23 New Listings: 17 Distressed: 3
Salinas Monterey Highway's inventories increased slightly, with a 3 percent increase since May 2013. Distressed properties remained the same. The median listing price in Salinas Monterey Highway went up from May to June. There were a total of 4 price increases and 17 price decreases.

Seaside:
Inventory: 3 Recently Sold: 2 New Listings: 0 Distressed: 0
Seaside's home inventories decreased sharply, with a 25 percent decrease since May 2013. Distressed properties remained the same. The median listing price in Seaside stayed the same from May to June. There were a total of 0 price increases and 1 price decrease. 

Marina:
Inventory: 6 Recently Sold: 5 New Listings: 4 Distressed: 0
Marina's home inventories increased, with a 20 percent increase since May 2013. Distressed properties remained the same. The median listing price in Marina went up from May to June. There were a total of 0 price increases and 1 price decrease.

Salinas:
Inventory: 2 Recently Sold: 1 New Listing: 1 Distressed: 0
Salinas' home inventories decreased sharply, with a 33 percent decrease since May 2013. Distressed properties remained the same. The median listing price in Salinas went up from May to June. There were a total of 0 price increases and 1 price decrease.

So those of you who are still awake, and were paying attention to the numbers, there was an average of 13.6 percent increase in inventory in Carmel, Pacific Grove, Pebble Beach, Salinas Monterey Highway, and Marina, and an average of 16.25 percent decrease in inventory in Monterey, Carmel Highlands, Seaside and Salinas, which shows that even though prices are going up slightly, there are still plenty of properties to choose from.  In terms of price there were 14 price increases and 84 decreases.   And although interest rates are slowly inching up, they are still at historic lows so let’s get out there and buy, Buy, BUY while the buying’s good!

© Patty Ross, KRXA Radio Show #246  July 12, 2013