The Coachella Valley including the La Quinta and Indio areas are brimming with people and events. More and more people are understanding that this is a great place to live and vacation! With the demand for housing income properties are a great investment, so pleasure seekers and investors alike are house hunting. The economic situation seems to be taking a turn for the better. As of Nov. 1, the Coachella Valley’s median home price per square foot was up 20 percent year over year, as values maintained double-digits price gains earned earlier in the year. This is opposite to what happened in 2010 and 2011 when, during the off-season in both years, prices declined about 10 percent. This change in the price pattern is very positive.
We forecast a further double-digit gain in 2013, based on the same three factors we used last year to forecast this year’s gain:
• A continuation of the all-time high in the affordability index as the Federal Reserve keeps mortgage rates at record lows.
• The continuing decline in the number of distressed property sales (foreclosures and short sales), which are predicted to “go to zero” by late 2013. This factor alone, based on the decline in the number of bad mortgages, could raise median prices and home appraisals by 15 percent in 2013.
• The very low inventory of homes for sale should continue to push prices higher.
The valley’s housing market continues the long healing process from a disrupted market back to a normal one, with the “normal one” calculated to be here sometime later this year — that is, unless some negative event or a recession drastically changes things.
So if you are still on the fence about buying, now might be a time to hop off the fence! See you on the polo field!