2022 started off with a bang, and we’ve already been busy! Final maps of the new Federal and State Districts are out, and Southwest Riverside County has a lot to process. Many of the new lines have shifted across cities, and we even have an entirely new State Assembly District. While these maps don’t officially take effect until November 2022, we will be closely monitoring the elections and be sure we are communicating with any new representatives we may have. If you’d like to see the maps for yourself and how you’re impacted, you can visit https://wedrawthelinesca.org.
On the Legislative Front, we had a bad bill that seemed to be moving quickly through the process that demanded action. AB 854 (Lee) would have forced property owners that own rental property to stay in the rental business for 5 years before being able to use the Ellis Act to go out of business. In other words, if you had a successful business and wanted to sell, or maybe you had a struggling business and you needed to cut losses, you would not have been able to go out of the rental business for 5 years! REALTORs® played a big part in fighting against this, and ultimately the author didn’t feel confident enough to bring it to the floor for a vote. This was a big win and just another example of how REALTORs® are fighting to protect homeowner and private property rights.
As for the housing numbers in our region, while median home prices continue to increase at a double-digit pace in every one of our cities, you will see some slowing in the number of sales, with an increase in time on market and inventory. This isn’t a bad thing and is what has been expected as we move into the new year. Let’s take a closer look at those numbers.
The median home price in Southwest Riverside County had a slight decrease of 4% from a month ago ($540,000/$565,000) but was up 20% from a year ago ($450,000), and up a staggering 45.9% from 2 years ago ($370,000). Unsold inventory is still hovering near 2 months (6 months is considered a healthy market), and days on market increased slightly to 12 days, up from 7 days last year but still significantly lower compared to 31 days 2 years ago. Unit sales are down 12% from the previous month but up 3% from last year. Inventory increased by 30% from last month and is up an incredible 78% from this time last year. Median prices are up in all of our local cities, ranging in an increased range of 12.5%-32.6% Year-Over-Year.
I told you 2022 would be a busy year, and we’ve only just begun.
As always, I am available if you have any questions about the report. Until next month…
