Mammoth Lakes Market Report, September 1, 2020
Total condominium sales (44 sales) for the month of August surpassed the most recent August high of 39 sales observed in 2004 when the Mammoth market was in its last recovery cycle. Single family home sales volume is above the average but did not set any records. This is likely due to the limited inventory of homes priced below $1,000,000.
Two common questions regarding recent sales: “Who are the buyers making up the strong sales activity?” and “Are all the locals just picking up and moving away?”. Here are some of our observations:
Urban Migration: As many of us have heard, people are moving from the urban areas to more rural locations as a means of improving their quality of life. Most buyers are families looking to become residents versus second homeowners. Also, an increasing number of buyers are coming from areas other than Southern California. We have seen a growing number of buyers from San Francisco, Sacramento, and other parts of the state.
Upsizing: Many of the buyers are locals transitioning from smaller homes into larger homes. This is attributed to the home work/school environment and the resulting demand for additional space. More privacy is needed as kids are now an integral part of the parent’s workday.
Interest Rates: Buyers are looking to take advantage of record low interest rates. Although prices may be higher than seen in recent years, mortgage payments are still relatively low due to these attractive interest rates. With the stock market at record levels, a divisive election around the corner, and trillions of dollars being printed… perhaps a home is not a bad investment option for the long term.
Millennials: Millennials seem to be making moves from a free-spirited lifestyle to one of structure. As this generation ages and enters family life there is a natural trend toward conventional living space.
Offers: The most interesting characteristic I have seen in recent months is the structure of the offers being presented to Sellers. “Contingent Offers” are offers subject to a Buyer’s home selling elsewhere. In other words, “we will buy your home, but only if the home we currently live in sells first”. Typically, these are rare offers and seldom accepted by Sellers, however these have become much more prevalent over the past month.
Single Family Homes
The single-family home market in Mammoth Lakes has produced 58 sales year-to-date. Median year-to-date home prices are $796,950, which is up .5% in comparison to 2019’s median price for the entire year. Just two month ago, the median price for the year was down (-4.5%). Inventory of single-family homes is very low with only six homes listed for sale in Mammoth Lakes under $1,000,000.
The graph below is a representation of the single-family home pricing table above
Condominium Market
As of September 1, 2020, the year-to-date median price for a condominium in Mammoth Lakes was $490,000, which is nearly 9% higher than the median price observed for 2019. This median price was determined using 183 sales year-to-date.
For the next few months, we are going to provide graphs showing the total number of sales by month, year over year.
Single Family Homes vs. Average over the past 10 years
Condominium Sales vs. Average over the past 10 years