The Redondo Beach Pier



After I posted about  down payments on  home sales in Manhattan Beach,   a reader asked if I would do a similar post on Redondo Beach home sales. I apologize for taking so long but I've been out of town packing up my Mom's home so she can move back to the mainland... but that's another story.

Reviewing the  percentage of cash used for down payments on recent home sales has pointed out the difference in Manhattan Beach home buyers and Redondo Beach home buyers.  I was so intrigued that I'm going to post for Hermosa Beach  and El Segundo in a few days to complete the comparison for all the Beach Cities. 

North Redondo and Manhattan Beach are opposites in the Beach Cities real estate markets.   Manhattan Beach is of course the high end with North Redondo being the entry level.  In Manhattan Beach all cash sales made up over 20% of the market.  In North Redondo they were less then 10% and in South Redondo they were  slightly above 10% of closed sales.

 In North Redondo 80 single family homes closed escrow from October 1, 2009-March 7, 2010.  Of those 80 homes 6 were cash sales,  50 buyers put 20%  or more down while 18 buyers used either  VA or FHA funding less then 10% down.  In South Redondo 37 homes closed escrow during the same period.  4 were cash sales, 21 were purchased with 20% or more down and 10 were purchased using FHA loans.  In Manhattan Beach, of the 119 homes sold,  only one property sold using FHA financing, and 115 sold with more then 20% down.   




North Redondo:  Down payment %  for single family homes
















South Redondo: Down payment  % for single family homes


















**As with Manhattan Beach the figures are based on  single family homes...

Recently there has been  a lot of  speculation at our local consumer blog,  MBC  about where  the Manhattan Beach and the Beach Cities real estate market is headed.   While we have seen prices decline in the last year we still don't have a large number of foreclosure or short sale properties in either Manhattan Beach or the Beach Cities.   As we haven't experienced that perfect storm of massive  numbers of foreclosures along with high numbers of short sales,  property values are still higher then many expected. 

From September 2009 to today ( February 19, 2010) there have been 119 single family homes close escrow.   Of the 119 closed home sales 24 (20%) were all cash. 4 sales had less then 20% down,  26 sales had 20% down and the other 65 sales saw down payments in excess of 20%.  What was interesting is that not all the cash sales were upscale homes.  Cash sales were across the spectrum on price.  By the same token a number of Luxury  homes buyers leveraged their purchases with loans above the $1,000,000 maxi mun mortgage interest deduction figure.   There were 15 home sales over $3,000,000.  Of those 15 homes  4 sold all cash, 5 had down payments of 40% or more and the other 6 buyers put down  between 20%-30%.   A few of these folks may have been reaching on price but I'm guessing a number of these buyers were taking advantage of very low interest rates and are keeping their cash for future investments.

 Another interesting factor was the number of  buyers who got  a first  loan of  $729,750 and a second loan to make the total loan amount about  $1,000,000 to take advantage of the mortgage deduction limit.  A year ago lenders were not making second loans no matter how much money a buyer had as a down payment.  There were also a few folks who obtained new secondary financing  a few months after the close of escrow. 


I don't know about  the percentage of down payments in other zip codes but I would think that a market where the median price is well over $1,000,000 and  20% of all sales are cash sales is a market where most owners and buyers  are  financially savvy.  The bad news is that  I expect to see more foreclosures and short sales in the coming months as the California economy continues to be in trouble and mortgage rates get ready to move higher.   The good news  is that our local real estate market looks as if it will continue to weather the storm better then expected.

Hermosa Strand... old and new


After a very slow first half of the year Hermosa saw the number of home and townhome sales almost double in the second half of 2009.  There were 64 homes and 53 townhomes that closed escrow from July-December 2009.    Hermosa hasn't seen that many 3rd and 4th quarter sales since 2005. 

The Hermosa Beach real estate market has been a bit different then the other Beach Cities.  Prices continued  on the high side  for most of the year and inventory didn't move.  Most sellers were not lowering prices and   properties would  re-list over and over at the same price.  After July  changes in the real estate market forced sellers to adjust prices as more short sales and REO's began to sell at prices well under where competing properties were listed.   Units in the Moorings are a good example of how changes in the market  forced many sellers to rethink their pricing strategy. 


Hermosa has a number of Strand properties on the market.  There are currently 7 Strand homes for sale in Hermosa. Prices range from just under $4,000,000 to almost $16,000,000.   Over the last year 4 have closed escrow and 2 are pending.  While asking prices are similar to those in Manhattan Beach the final sold prices this year have been  lower then the prices on similar homes in Manhattan Beach.    This will be an interesting segment of the market to watch as some pricey new homes hit the market.


Hermosa Beach, like Manhattan Beach has little in the way single family homes that are new construction .  While there is  new construction most of the new homes have been built by private parties and are not going on the market.  There are few homes available that were built after 2006  which means that buyers will have to either build themselves  if they want new or buy an older home that has been extensively remodeled.  Even the townhome market is not seeing much in the way of new construction other then the project on 21st street. 


As the new year opens there are 48 homes and 32 townhomes/condos for sale.  There are 20 homes and 19 townhomes in escrow.  As of February 15, 2010 18 homes and 7 townhomes have closed escrow.  It's  looking like a better year for home sales in Hermosa Beach.


Hermosa Beach:  Sold July-December 2000-2009(click on graph to enlarge)


















Hermosa Beach: Sand Sold July-December 2000-2009














 

 

Hermosa Beach:  Valley Sold July-December 2000-2009

Hermosa Beach: Hills Sold July-December 2000-2009

 Financing was difficult to obtain as the FEDS had dropped the conforming jumbo loan limit to $625,000 from $729,750 as of November 2008.  While the FEDS agreed to raise the limit again in February,  lenders were not able to fund loans until the end of April.  Jumbo loans were only being offered by a few institutions and they were (and still are)  difficult to obtain as most lenders want very high FICO scores along with down payments in excess of 20%.   That left of lot of months with few choices for many consumers who were considering buying a home.  Just to make things more interesting the government also changed the way appraisals were handled which led to a slew of issues that are still a problem.

Another area of concern is foreclosures.  While stories run high about shadow inventory there isn't any real information on the numbers.  Issues with continued high unemployment nationally and in California will  exert pressure on  homeowners at the high and low end of the scale. Loan resets are a reality and will have some effect on all homeowners.  In California a moratorium on foreclosures by the state legislature has ended and we may indeed see more distressed properties hit the market.  The big question is will they be in Manhattan Beach or Morongo Valley.

Manhattan Beach: Home Sales January-December 2000-2009

Manhattan Beach sales by month: ( single family homes no townhomes)

 

 Manhattan Beach: Westside/Eastside July-December 2007-2009

I apologize for posting this information so later but sometimes life gets in the path of real estate... I will also  be posting information for Hermosa, Redondo and El Segundo.  

2009 was  a year of changes as  home prices in most California communities, including the Beach Cities,  hit the skids.  Builders and homeowners found themselves trying to decide if they should take a huge loss now or rent their unsold properties and pray for a better market in a few years. For some there was no choice as banks made the decision for them by foreclosing on the properties in question.

Things seemed to turn around in late Spring as lenders once again began funding Jumbo conforming loans while the FED helped keep interest ratts down.  Low prices and low interest rates  boosted home sales.  After months of too much inventory it seemed as if there was no inventory.  Whispers of multiple  offers on well priced properties proved true and buyers and sellers were suddenly asking themselves if we had finally reached the bottom of the market.  

They say that perception is reality and this may be the case for 2009.   Our perception of the  market just might be steering us toward a reality that isn't  quite what it appears to be. There  is no question that inventory has declined since January 2009, not only in the South Bay-Beach Cities,  but in most of California and the nation as well.  The question we should be thinking about is why. 

The immediate response is that sales have skyrocketed in the last year.  While this is true in part... sales did increase over the last 6 months... when you look at the number of sales in 2008 vs the number in 2009,  sales volume didn't really go up that much.  There were only 125 more sales in 2009 then 2008 in all the Beach Cities.  That works out to 10 more sales a month in Manhattan, Hermosa, Redondo and El Segundo combined.  That's good but maybe not enough to account for the decline in inventory we have seen in recent months.

Inventory has decreased for a lot of reasons.  Some homes were taken off the market and  rented which means they will be off market for at least 12 months.  Many owners who tried to negotiate a short sale with their lender  gave up  and are now  moving toward foreclosure.  Other properties were taken off the market because they didn't find buyers.  Since the first of the year some  homes have returned to the market with lower prices and found buyers fairly quickly.  I expect we will see more of these homes returning to the market as sellers realize that prices are not moving upward anytime soon.

Manhattan Beach saw the largest drop in inventory, 55 fewer homes were for sale in January 2010 then in January 2009.  Hermosa, Redondo and El Segundo saw a much smaller shift in inventory. If you view the Beach Cities as a whole there are only 93 fewer homes for sale  in January 2010 then in January 2009...

The December 2009 survey by The Public Policy Institute of California indicates that most Californians are a pessimistic bunch about where the economy of the state is headed.  Until we see the entire economic picture brighten a lot both statewide and nationally,  I don't think we are going to see an end to the housing issue... even for those with deep pockets.

South Bay-Beach Cities: Sold December 2009

In coming weeks I'll be posting year over year sales data for Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach and El Segundo.