Market Update March 2024
Westlake Village, Agoura Hills, Oak Park, Thousand Oaks and Newbury Park
By: Michael Rice | March 1, 2024
My View From Inside
The inventory of available homes for sale is finally starting to improve! As expected, lower interest rates (or the expectation of lower interest rates) is finally encouraging homeowners to sell their homes and free up some much needed inventory.
Although rates recently went up again, the latest survey expects rates to drop even more than originally forecast hopefully freeing up more inventory as the year progresses.
Inventory is improving, but remains historically low
After years of declining year-over-year inventory to record lows, the number of new listings to hit the market in February increased 29% over last year. And the month ended with more homes for sale compared to last month – great news for buyers.
But before we start to celebrate, keep in mind that’s still about half the homes we had for sale just 5 years ago (255 homes for sale today vs 595 in 2019), although it is a step in the right direction.
It’s still a seller’s market
In spite of the improved inventory, it’s still very much a seller’s market. Most homes are selling at or above asking price and multiple offers are still common. In fact, on average, homes are selling at exactly 100% of asking. The days of 10+ offers and 100k over asking price are behind us for the most part, but competing against an offer or 2 is still common.
The median price of a home continues to bounce between the high 900s to low $1mil with February ending at $1,050 and trending upwards.
Bottom Line…
Those are a lot of stats to digest, but the bottom line is that more inventory and lower rates is good news for home buyers.
Inventory is improving, and sellers may start to face some competition from other sellers. Interest rates are bouncing around the mid to high 6s, but are trending downwards and will bring out more buyers as they continue down. The market is definitely heating up!
Ready to talk? Feel free to reach out (818) 384-9929 | Michael@ConejoValleyGuy.com
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What to expect moving forward
- Expect the market to gather steam as more homes hit the market as we get into spring.
- Expect prices to continue up more quickly as mortgage rates come down.
- Be prepared to act quickly if a house in a neighborhood you like comes on the market. It may be the only option for a while.
- Don’t bother trying to time rates. Even the experts are struggling to get a beat on where rates are going in the short term.
Seller’s Corner
The recent drop in mortgage rates and record low inventory is skewing the market in sellers favor. However, it’s still critically important to price your home correctly from the beginning. Buyers are eagerly waiting to pounce. If you miss that first window to attract a buyer, you may have a tough time getting them to come back again once you inevitably drop the price.
What's The 2024 California Forecast?
According to the California Association of REALTORS
- The median price of a home is expected to increase 6.2% in 2024.
- The number of home sales is expected to increase 22.9%.
- Interest rates are expected to average 6% in 2024.
Market Snapshot
Home Prices
- The median price of a Conejo Valley home was up in February to $1,050,000.
- That’s 3 consecutive months up.
- Prices are up 8.8% from $965,000 last February.
- And up $72,000 from last month.
For Sale
- February ended with 255 homes for sale.
- Up 4.1% from last February.
- That’s 10 more homes than last year.
- And 46 more homes than last month.
- It took 30 days on average to sell a home in February.
- Up 3.4% from last February.
- That’s 1 more day than last year.
- And 6 fewer days than last month.
