Home Sales Flourish in the Palms Springs Valley

Hooray. Some local newsprint confirmation of this year's robust home sales here in the Palm Springs area. As we commence the Labor Day Weekend, today's top business story trumpets flourishing home sales throughout the Coachella Valley. Attributing the healthy numbers to improved affordability (a record high of 64%), federal and state tax credits, and historically low interest rates, the number crunchers report 2,700 home sales within the second quarter of 2010.

My Windermere La Quinta office alone routinely reports sales in the $2M to $9M range each week and this summer's sales—typically the slowest season in the desert—have been phenomenal for all valley brokerages across the price spectrum.

Higher-priced homes have joined the queue of Solds now that distress sales—short sales and bank-owned foreclosures—have encroached on luxury-home terrain, signficantly driving down home values. Buyers have driven sales in the $500,000 to $750,000 range to recent highs while the million-dollar-plus homes are selling briskly. During the three months of summer, 81 homes sold at a medium home price of $1.35M with 44 still in escrow. La Quinta leads the over-$1M category with sister cities, Indian Wells and Rancho Mirage, accounting for most of the rest.

Our valley—a strong resort and second-home market—remains very affordable compared to coastal communities throughout California and has thus outproduced the state as a whole. Canadians—with their strong loonie—have also contributed to the sale numbers.

RealtyTrac reports that foreclosure activity—defaults, auctions and REOs—dropped 12% in the first six months from 2009: 12,007 down to 10,562. Distressed homes will continue to show up on the market this year and next, as well as some strategic defaulters in the high end, so prospective buyers still have a chance to snag a bargain. The 2010 numbers strongly indicate that many buyers have determined this year is a great time to snag a bargain.

To read the full story from The Desert Sun (September 4), click on the following link. If you'd like to peruse the complete sales data city-by-city, there is a downloadable PDF on Page 3 of the story.

Coachella Valley 2Q Sales