Inland Empire real estate market update for May 2023
Median prices continue rising across Southern California
The region’s real estate market continued to improve (recover? pause its correction? what’s really going on here?!) in May. According to Realtor.com, median listing price climbed further to $580K, making it about 3.1% shy of last year’s (May 2022) peak. See the chart below. Median days on market declined again to 46 days, and new listings were 74.7% of total active listings, which is an increase from 67.7% the month before. Overall, housing supply is moving off the market faster and demand for housing remains strong, despite interest rates for a 30-year mortgage remaining in the 6.5-7.0% range.
Other parts of Southern California are faring even better. Again according to Realtor.com, Los Angeles’ median listing price in May was at $1.2 million, which is 16% higher than it was a year ago. San Diego’s median listing price also passed the $1 million mark – it is at $1,055,000 as of May 2023 and 14% higher than a year ago.
What’s perhaps most surprising about these other metro areas is that median days on market are still relatively high, suggesting there is room for further price appreciation heading into the summer. Both L.A. and San Diego’s median days on market are above 30 days - that’s lower than the I.E., but still higher year-over-year by 30-40%.
My “pet” indicator also continued to improve in May: the ratio of price decreases to increases on active listings in the Inland Empire declined further to 4.4, from 5.3 last month and all the way from 12.8 in January 2023. See the chart above. The real estate market appears to have returned to its pre-correction trend; I feel especially confident in saying this given the Fed’s position regarding interest rates and the cooling inflationary environment.