The momentum in Westside sales activity that's evolved over the summer continues through September.   We're continuing to see multiple-offers on reasonably priced properties and most notably, a sharp increase in pending activity (when buyer and seller reach a deal and an escrow has opened) and inventory (Month's Supply of Inventory or MSI) reduction.
September highlights include:
 
 
Bel Air SFR - Median sales price up 19% over 9/08 and pendings up 56% over 9/08.
 
Beverly Hills SFR - Median sales price up 19% over 8/09, pendings up 143% over 9/08, 55% over 8/09 and 7 MSI versus 13 in 8/09 and 18 in 9/08.
 
Brentwood SFR - Sellers cut prices 27% over same period last year resulting in a pending sales increase of 420% over 9/08 reducing inventory from 34 MSI in 9/08 to 5 MSI for 9/09.
 
Brentwood Condo - Median sales price up 8% over 9/08, pendings up 30% over 9/08 and MSI reduced from 24 in 1/09 to just 6 in 9/09.       
                                       
Pacific Palisades SFR - Median sales price down 23% over 9/08, which bumped pendings up 91% over the same period.  MSI reduced from 30 in 12/08 to 8 in 9/09.                                                                                                                              
Pacific Palisades Condo - Median sales price up 20% over9/08.  
                          
Santa Monica SFR - Pendings up 109% over 9/08 reducing MSI from 20 in January to 5 in September.            
                                                                                  
Santa Monica Condo - Pendings up 28% over same time last year and MSI drops to 5 in September from 20 in January. 
                                                                                          
Westwood SFR - Median sales price up 6% over 9/08, pendings up 109% over same period last year reducing MSI from 12 in January to just 2 in September!  
   
A combination of factors has contributed to the continued surge of activity - pent-up buyer demand, sellers adjusting their pricing to more realistic price points, first-time buyers seeking to capture the $8K tax credit and historically low interest rates.  For the last 3 weeks, the interest rate dipped as low as 4.87% and is now at 5.0% as of this writing. You may not recall that last year, interest rates were above 6%!

I expect we'll begin to see a tapering off in mid-to-late October as we move towards the seasonal Holiday slumber and beyond the deadline to open escrow and capture the $8K first-time homebuyers credit.  For many buyers however, this could be a great opportunity to find a deal on a new home without having to endure the pains of competing with other buyers at the negotiating table.  If you think that might possibly be you, we should talk sooner rather than later.


 Source:  CLAW/MLS

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