What’s happening in Pasadena’s real estate market as the year winds down…
🤔…and what should you expect regarding home prices?
Hi, this is Eva Lin #1 Realtor for Pasadena Homes sold in 2021 and 2022!
To start off, we should take a look at how the year has shaped up so far.
BTW – In the second half of this post I share about a VERY interesting sale I just completed.
This time last year, there were plenty of frightening news headlines about…
⚠️…how the real estate market is going to crash in 2023.
Clearly, that didn’t happen.
Local home prices are as high or higher than they were last year!
For instance, the median Pasadena home price over the 6 last months was $1,405,000…
…which is 6.5% higher than the same time period in 2022.
Once again, alarming news headlines are popping up with predictions of a market crash.
Folks who listened to those headlines last year and tried to time the market are likely regretting that decision.
📈 Prices have generally gone up, so it’s important to take those alarming headlines with a grain of salt.
Looking at the recent sales data from September, we see a few interesting things.
First, the median Pasadena home price last month was $1.35M.
This is exactly the same as September of 2022.
In terms of new housing inventory, 70 houses went up for sale last month in Pasadena.
That represents a 16% drop compared to the same month last year.
As you probably know, low housing inventory is having a huge impact on our local market.
📉 In fact, there’ve been about 30% fewer houses going up for sale this year compared to last year.
And that’s a big reason why home prices have been rising despite interest rates above 7.5%.
There simply aren’t enough houses available for sale to meet the demand…
…even with higher interest rates.
Another critical number to be aware of is related to Active Listings.
That refers to how many houses are available for sale at any given time.
In September, there were 118 houses for sale in Pasadena, on average…
😲…which made it the 3rd lowest month for Active Listings in over a decade.
This means low housing supply is likely to be the norm until there’s a significant drop in interest rates.
Now, as year-end approaches, we’ll likely see inventory drop even more because…
…fewer folks are interested in selling their house during the holiday season.
And with lots of travel plans, there tends to be fewer active buyers in the market toward year end.
Some buyers see this as an opportunity to purchase a home when the competition isn’t as intense.
👍 I agree that’s a good strategy!
For home sellers who plan to sell in the next few months…
…it’s critical that your house is presented in a way that allows it to stand out, particularly if it’s a multi-million-dollar home.
Here’s a perfect example of why that’s so important!
I recently helped my dear clients, the Suzuki’s, sell their gorgeous craftsman at 144 N Grand Avenue in Pasadena.
🏡 This sale was especially interesting because North Grand Avenue is a short little street with only about 10 houses on it.
A few weeks before I put the Suzuki’s home on the market…
…one of the neighbors put their house up for sale.
I listed 144 N Grand in July at $2.48M and within three days 2 more neighbors listed their houses!
So, on that tiny street, 4 different multi-million-dollar character homes went up for sale…
…within about one month.
This is NOT an ideal situation for a home seller!
I knew it was critical to help my clients’ house stand out from competition.
🎥 Thankfully, I’d already created a custom video tour where I was on camera describing what made their home so special.
I also created a custom digital guidebook with beautiful copywriting and gorgeous photos…
…to paint a powerful picture of the ideal life that awaited the lucky new owners.
When the house hit the market, I hosted open houses every single weekend until it went into escrow.
What’s more, my team went all out to make sure the house looked its best, even through the heat of the summer.
🌹 We had planted beautiful iceberg roses as part of our initial touch up work…
…and my team came by the house dozens of times to hand water those flowers so they would stay alive and keep the house looking great.
Sure enough, we opened escrow in just 28 days.
The Suzuki’s sold their home for $70,000 over the asking price with multiple offers received…
🥳…and they were thrilled by the outcome.
Here we are well into October and the 3 competing homes still haven’t officially sold!
This all goes to show the importance of having a powerful marketing, pricing, and positioning plan…
…to make sure your home stands out amongst competing homes.
This is what will cause it to sell for the highest price in the best amount of time possible!