By Noelle Blumel
For the Signal
Santa Clarita Valley real estate experts aren’t really surprised to see a relatively mild market based on current quarantine conditions, with June numbers indicating a willingness to buy but a hesitancy to sell.
For the month of June, the Southland Regional Association of Realtors, the largest professional real estate organization in the area, reported 331 active listings in its income-to-loan guide for June 2020, a 49% decrease from June 2019.
At the current rate of sales, the active listings represent a 1.2-month supply, according to Erika Kauzlarich-Bird, broker associate with Compass. ( Estimates vary, but a health supply is considered five to seven months, according to Sapling.com.)
“We are definitely down in terms of inventory,” Kauzlarich-Bird said. “June is the summer which is usually our best market, and that’s when you usually see a rise in activity; but unfortunately with the pandemic, it has kind of changed the nature of all of those numbers, but it is not necessarily bringing down the value of homes.”
However, for those who need to sell, there’s a bit of good news. Brokers are seeing multiple offers on homes, and properties aren’t staying on the market for very long. The area’s desirability are factors.
The market is leaning towards a seller’s market because they have the buyers, but not enough homes to sell, according to Craig Martin, Realtor with Realty 1 Group.
“However, locally we’re thriving because people want to live here and it’s affordable in the sense of everything that’s around us,” Martin said. “So I feel like our market is always going to be solid, because I feel like you get a lot for your value out here.”
There are not a lot of negotiations going on because of the shortage of inventory, and the median sale price is up 7.4% since June 2019, according to Michael Regilio, agent and member of the Southland Regional Association.
“The number of active listings on the market are down 46% from last year because the houses are sellings faster,” he said. “The number of properties in escrow, the ones that come on the market and buyers have made offers, is up by 20%.”
The Southland Regional Association Realtors also reported that compared to June 2019, there were 105 fewer listings and 33 fewer closed sales added to the database last month.
Kauzlarich-Bird said they are definitely down in terms of active listings by about half vs. the same time in 2019, but as long as they have the demand and not the supply, they’re always going to see multiple offers on properties.
“So when you look at the trend of last year vs. this year, it’s down, but it’s not down a whole lot,” Kauzlarich-Bird said. “The market, even though we can’t do open houses and even though showings are supposed to be the absolute last resort, when you compare us to last year, we’re really not down very much in terms of sales.”
She has also been on a lot of economic forecast calls and said by looking at the trend, this is definitely something she would come to expect.
She added that it’s hard to predict where the stats will be at in the coming months because the economic impact is changing from week to week as a result of the pandemic.
“As long as we don’t end up with a complete shut down, I think you’re gonna continue to see the trend of the buyers out there taking advantage of the interest rates,” she said. “I don’t necessarily foresee a huge uptick in listings because you have to factor in, too — sometimes, we have distance learning, we don’t even know if the kids are gonna go back to school and a lot of what brings families to Santa Clarita are the schools. ν
