The BHAUS EIGHT February 2024 Newsletter

Hello community,

Happy rainy days! I’ll be honest, I am loving all this rain and love to curl up in my daughter’s window bench reading a book, sipping my coffee, while watching and listening to the rain come down. This past weekend I was in Mammoth Lakes, and that was a magical winter wonderland with fresh powder to ski on every day.

Talking about books, when not reading about the real estate market, I love to read (auto)biographies about great women, classics, and travel books to inspire my next adventure. I am currently reading a great book, When Women Lead by Julia Boorstin, and highly recommend it. It tells a series of stories about women CEOs, founders, and leaders who have managed to beat the odds, used the “female traits” that have been seen at odds with business at times, and have created successful enterprises across industries.

As Bhaus Eight founders, we continue to be so proud of what we are building. A real estate community with a personal touch, and a whole lot of real estate and negotiations knowledge. We spare no detail with each of our clients, personalizing their journey, and always going above and beyond. This is the Bhaus Experience.

In this month’s newsletter…

• BHAUS EIGHT Properties showcases our new listings across our markets

• The Southbay Real Estate section has the latest local stats and trends, giving you all the info needed to get your home on the market

• Home Stats by City

• The Economy & Mortgage News has the latest updates on inflation, consumer spending, and up-to-date mortgage rates.

  Have you followed us yet? make sure you are following us on Instagram and/or Facebook to get updates that are not sent to our mailing list! These updates include Open Houses, quick stats, inspiration for your home and your travels, as well as our exciting house viewings!

This newsletter photography inspiration: Bavaria, Germany, thinking of all the Christmas markets that are now open!

SouthBay Real Estate.

During previous months, and across all Southbay cities and across all property types, we’ve seen some slight increases in average prices. Last month, we had another ever so slight increase of +0.7% vs LY, with an average price of $1.154MM.

While the rate of the price increases has slowed down, the market overall has not dropped due to supply and demand - this is fueled by two important things: One being high interest rates that are turning off sellers from selling and purchasing another property at a higher interest rate, and two being that homeowners are in a great position with their earned equity and are not forced to sell for any reason. Having said that, there are opportunities for buyers when fixers come on the market, and there is also more room for negotiation with sellers.

From a year ago, Days on Market (DOM) has come down by about -10% (with an average DOM of 25), while closed sales were flat to LY. New listings have ever so slightly dropped by -0.6%, and with a high buyer demand, it behooves buyers to do their research and put their best foot forward when finding a home they love.

See below on Southbay housing stats by city.

Home Stats by City.

Economy & Mortgage News.

We saw a strong jobs report for January, driving a surge in 30-year mortgage rate. The rates have slowly jumped back up and remain above 7% during the last few days of February. According to C.A.R. research, given the latest economic data, we are not expecting to see rates drop quickly as many forecasters are not expecting the Fed to begin cutting rates just yet (they are expecting to cut rates during the second half of 2024). Current rates for a 30-year fixed conforming loan is at 6.625%, while a 30-year fixed jumbo loan is at 6.750%.

For many spectators wondering about a market bubble, the real estate industry remains quite optimistic about the health of the market. According to C.A.R. research, the fundamentals remain strong. For one, California ended last year with just 2.5% in delinquent mortgages, and nearly 98% of homeowners have at least 20% home equity. Even with the upper-end estimates on a price correction, the vast majority of homeowners would still be left with some positive equity, which would in turn prevent an increase in distressed sales and flooding of the market.

The supply and demand equation is still working on the market’s favor, maintaining prices or seeing slight increases. The reduced DOM (Days on Market) also shows the competitiveness of the current market just before Spring selling season has begun.

Contact your BHAUS EIGHT team with any comments or questions!

To subscribe to our weekly emails of investor opportunities and our digital newsletter, please email Sonia directly at Sonia@bhauseight.com

From BHAUS to yours.