The median home sale price in Los Angeles County in September 2022 was $910,000, which is up slightly from the previous month and up 2.8% from the previous year. This median sale price is below the peak we saw in April of this year but still higher than prices were a year ago. Inventory remains tight, with fewer properties for sale now than there were a year ago, and the number of closed sales has fallen almost 30% from last year.
The rising interest rates, inflation and economic uncertainty are causing some buyers to remain on the sidelines, which means there is less competition among the buyers who are actively looking and able to buy. However, these same factors are also causing sellers to refrain from listing their homes, which means there is less supply. So even with the decreased demand, the decreased supply of homes is keeping home prices from declining dramatically, especially in a prime market like Los Angeles.
According to a recent report in the LA Times (https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-10-12/home-prices-are-declining), most economists are not expecting housing prices to crash like they did in the Great Recession of 2008, but they are predicting declining prices across Southern California, especially if we get more interest rate hikes from the Fed.
As always, not all neighborhoods are seeing the same trends. Some Westside neighborhoods, including Malibu, Pacific Palisades, Santa Monica, and Venice, all saw increased median sale prices in September 2022 compared to the previous month and the previous year. And other Los Angeles areas, such as Beverly Hills and Hancock Park, had lower prices in September than in the previous month and previous year. Click here to read the full September 2022 Micro Market Report to see how your neighborhood is performing.
