We’ve just wrapped up the First Quarter of 2022, so I want to give a quick market update for the Conejo Valley compared to this time last year.
This update specifically covers Thousand Oaks, Westlake Village, Agoura Hills, Oak Park, and Newbury Park:
Now, you’ll hear a lot of different numbers tossed out there on other market updates, so I want to clarify that I’m using the Median home price (not the average home price). Because there are a number of high-end luxury homes in our market (I’m talking $10 to $20 million dollar properties), they can skew the numbers too far upward. The Median price is the number right in the middle, if we were to line up all the home prices from lowest to highest. Sometimes looking at this number, we get a more accurate representation of what’s going on.
Also worth noting – In these stats I’m including single-family homes, townhomes and condos.
Quarter 1, 2022:
For Quarter 1, 2022, The median home price in the Conejo Valley was $1,037,500. Compare this to Q1 2021, when the median home price was $859,000. The median home price has increased 21% in one year!
Not only that, but homes this quarter are selling on average for about 2% over-asking price vs a year ago when it was about half that.
Current days on market is 28 days vs last years 37 days. So homes are getting scooped up faster and for more money.
This quarter, there were 431 new listings vs this time last year when there were 546. So we’re seeing about a 21% reduction in active listings.
There just aren’t very many homes on the market. The Conejo Valley had low inventory before the pandemic, but now our inventory is even lower. This past quarter we averaged less than a month of inventory! That means that at the current pace homes are selling, if no new homes came on the market, all inventory would be gone in less than a month. There is a national housing shortage, but in our market, it is particularly low because we are not really building any new homes.
My take on the current market:
All that being said – It is still a good time to buy! And here’s my advice: don’t judge current home prices and interest rates based on where they were a couple years ago, rather look at where they are going in the coming years. Economists predict that home prices will continue to rise this year, even with the increasing interest rates. So if you are thinking about buying, keep in mind that as interest rates increase, your affordability decreases.
Let’s say you are currently pre-qualified for a $1,000,000 home at 4.5% interest. If interest rates increase in the coming year to 5.5%, then you’re able to get a home that is $890,000.
And by the way, that 1 million dollar home may be 1.1 million by that same time. So the sooner you get in the game, the better. Be prepared to pay over-asking – and BE PATIENT, as you may have to make offers on several homes before you get an offer accepted.
And if you are considering selling, this is obviously a great time to sell. But If you’re thinking of waiting because home prices are expected to continue to rise, just keep in mind that interest rates are rising too… so you may end up with a smaller pool of qualified buyers if you wait.
If you have any questions about the buying or selling process, or want more information about what’s going on in the Conejo Valley market, please reach out. I’d love to chat!
emilyberdonRE@gmail.com
Aviara Real Estate
CALBRE #02166248
