Coachella Valley Homes Sales Jump 21% In December
PALM DESERT – Coachella Valley’s existing home sales jumped an impressive 21 percent in December over November, in sharp contrast to national sales that fell 16 percent in the same period, the California Desert Association of Realtors reported today.
Moreover, existing sales in the desert rose 30.3 percent in December compared to December 2008.
“The desert is faring better than the country as a whole for a couple of reasons,” said Greg Berkemer, executive director of the California Desert Association of Realtors. “For most of the country summer is the big selling season. For the Coachella Valley, winter is our season. There are three places in this country today where the weather is your friend: Southern Florida, Honolulu, and the California Desert.”
“Inside California, the desert has the lowest median price except for California’s high desert, the Lancaster, Newhall area,” he said.
Berkemer said “January, February, and March will give us a much better indication of ‘seasonal strength’ and if we will have a trend to take into Spring.”
The median price of an existing home in the Coachella Valley was $172,320 in December, up .1 percent from November and 1.5 percent from December 2008.
Berkemer said the inventory of available homes rose by about 200 in December over November. He said there are only 469 single family homes currently for sale through the Multiple Listing Service that are at or below the median sales price of $172,300. The MLS is the real estate industry’s consumer-oriented standard for existing and some new home sales throughout the Coachella Valley and high desert.
