A December to remember caps off a record-setting 2020 for California and Los Angeles Real Estate. 

Even with a global pandemic which forced lock downs and shut down the 2020 spring home-buying season, the California Real estate market remained a resilient bright spot as buyers took advantage of historic low interest rates and sellers capitalized on this buyer demand.

December, a historically low sales month was anything but as it capped off the 5th month in a row of record-high median prices according to the California Association of Realtors.

State-wide home sales: Existing, single-family home sales totaled 509,750 in December on a seasonally adjusted annualized rate, up 0.2 percent from November and up 28 percent from December 2019. This year-over-year, double-digit sales gain was the fifth consecutive and the largest yearly gain since May 2009.

State-wide median prices: Median Prices set a new record, as they rose above $700k for the 4th time in the last 5 months. After dipping below $700,000 the previous month, California's median home price bounced back above that benchmark and set another record high in December. California’s median home price rose 2.7% on a month-to-month basis to $717,930 in December, up from November’s $699,000.  Median prices also gained on a year-over-year basis with the statewide median price surging 16.8 percent from December 2019.  

What’s happening with inventory? The unsold inventory index indicates the number of months it would take to sell the supply of homes on the market at the current rate of sales. The unsold inventory dropped from 1.9 months this November to 1.3 months in December, mirroring the record-low from Spring 2004.

“With mortgage rates expected to stay near the lowest in history, demand for homeownership will continue to be strong, so home sales should remain elevated into the first half of 2021, as motivated buyers take advantage of the increased purchasing power."

- 2021 C.A.R. President Dave Walsh

With this flurry of activity pushed to the back half of the year, sales of existing CA homes were up 3.5% from last year – all this amidst a global pandemic.

In past months, the state wide trend has largely mirrored what’s happening in Los Angeles. For the second month in a row, we’re seeing a bit of  a softening across all key metrics including number of listings hitting the market, the number of sold listings as well as median and average list and sale prices. The only metrics that are unchanged are median and average days on market and the list/sale price ratio. These patterns continue to suggest that inventory is still squeezed, especially with fewer listings hitting the market and the ones that are listed are selling at a faster clip, at or slightly above the list price.

For single family homes:

• After hitting multiple record highs, median listing prices (the point at which one half the homes sell for more and one half sell for less) dipped slightly for the second month in a row to $779,000, a 1.16% drop from last month’s median listing price of $788,000, but still an 11.5% increase from December 2019.
• Average listing prices also dipped slightly again to $1.15M from last month’s at $1.166M, but still a 19.43% increase from December 2019.
• There's the list price (what the seller hopes to get) and the sale price (what they actually get). In December, we hit the highest list to sales/price ratio of 102.3%, continuing to break above the 100% list/sales price ratio.
• Shrinking inventory didn’t stop potential home buyers from competing for homes. Both median and average days on market dropped from last year meaning homes are selling at a faster rate: 12 median days on market versus 25 from December 2019, and 26 average days on market versus 43 from December 2019.
• 3,097 single family homes hit the market in December, up 23% from December 2019 but a drop from 4,132 homes hitting the market last November.

For condominiums:

• Median listing prices (the point at which one half the condos sell for more and one half sell for less) were at $550,000 for condos, essentially flat from last month and a 4% increase from December 2019.  
• The average listing price of $681,461 rose 4.5% from last month’s average listing price of $650,858 as well as a tiny gain of .44% from December 2019. The list/sale price ratio remains strong at 100.1%
• Unlike prior months where condo-townhomes were selling faster than single family homes, the relative pace of condos continues to slow down with 17 median days on market, down 27% from last year and 32 average days on market, down 14% from last year.
• 1,349 new condos hit the market, up a whopping 45% from November 2019 but a drop from last month’s 1726 condos hitting the market.
  

So for the 3rd month in a row, we are seeing just a bit of a softening month over month going into 2021.

Here’s how  2020 ended for Los Angeles County Real Estate

• New listings were DOWN 9.21%: 59,532 in 2020 versus 65,570 in 2019
• Sold listings were DOWN 4.29%:  43,019 in 2020 versus 44,949 in 2019
• Median listing prices were UP: $749,990 in 2020 versus $680,000 in 2019
• Median Selling prices were UP 10.29%: $749,990 in 2020 versus $680,000 in 2019
• Median days on market were DOWN 37.5%: 15 days in 2020 versus 24 days in 2019

For anyone who is trying to predict where the Los Angeles Real Estate market will go in 2021, my best advice is to act upon the needs of your personal situation.

If you need to buy or sell your home, let data be your guide, but let your unique circumstances be the deciding factor.

Here is the Los Angeles Real Estate Market Report for Single Family Residences and Condominiums based on December housing data in Los Angeles.