Valley Mid-Century Modern Market Trends The Desert Area Multiple Listing Service has a widget for agents called Trends that spits out graphs of whatever slice of its content you desire. Since we specialize in Mid-Century Modern we thought it would be interesting to see how it’s doing in different area zip codes. Plugging in 92270 (Rancho Mirage) and build years 1950-1970, All Residential, and looking for Average Price we get: Date | D/14 | J/15 | F/15 | M/15 | A/15 | M/15 | J/15 | J/15 | A/15 | S/15 | O/15 | N/15 | D/15 | J/16 | F/16 | Active | 48 | 49 | 49 | 46 | 47 | 46 | 43 | 40 | 31 | 25 | 31 | 36 | 37 | 47 | 50 | New | 9 | 17 | 9 | 14 | 16 | 12 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 16 | 7 | 7 | 18 | 11 | Sold | 4 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0 | Pended | 2 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
Wow, sales were dropping off and hit zero in February. Even the Pending sales (those under contract) are low compared to the year before. Changing the zip code to 92264 (South Palm Springs), to check: Date | 12/14 | 1/15 | 2/15 | 3/15 | 4/15 | 5/15 | 6/15 | 7/15 | 8/15 | 9/15 | 10/15 | 11/15 | 12/15 | 1/16 | 2/16 | Active | 62 | 66 | 70 | 68 | 72 | 74 | 70 | 55 | 49 | 52 | 72 | 81 | 86 | 114 | 124 | New | 18 | 37 | 32 | 37 | 27 | 28 | 27 | 14 | 11 | 22 | 40 | 43 | 24 | 46 | 41 | Sold | 19 | 19 | 9 | 27 | 31 | 23 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 13 | 11 | 12 | 23 | 13 | 12 | Pended | 14 | 19 | 26 | 27 | 20 | 18 | 21 | 14 | 15 | 15 | 11 | 19 | 9 | 15 | 2 |
In 92264, the average list price for the period covered was about $655,000 and sale price about $525,000, a difference of 25%, which looks like a healthy market. The quantities are lower than the year before so recent price increases may be discouraging buyers. Whereas in 92270 the average List was about $965,000 and Sale $445,000, a difference of over 100% (excluding prices ($0) in the months where there were zero sales). We might conclude that Sellers and Buyers agree on prices in South Palm Springs and disagree in Rancho Mirage. Trying to break this down by size of home, the average floor area of those considered above in 92264 is about 2,000 sf. By splitting out those above 2000 square feet in 92270 we see part of the problem. There are a good number of Million-dollar-plus homes not selling. Remember, these are average prices. Date | 12/14 | 1/15 | 2/15 | 3/15 | 4/15 | 5/15 | 6/15 | 7/15 | 8/15 | 9/15 | 10/15 | 11/15 | 12/15 | 1/16 | 2/16 | Active | 16 | 16 | 15 | 16 | 18 | 22 | 19 | 20 | 15 | 10 | 13 | 17 | 20 | 26 | 26 | New | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 9 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 8 | 5 | Sold | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Pended | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
In 92270, below 2,000 sf: Date | 12/14 | 1/15 | 2/15 | 3/15 | 4/15 | 5/15 | 6/15 | 7/15 | 8/15 | 9/15 | 10/15 | 11/15 | 12/15 | 1/16 | 2/16 | Active | 32 | 33 | 34 | 30 | 29 | 24 | 24 | 20 | 16 | 15 | 18 | 19 | 17 | 21 | 24 | New | 5 | 14 | 7 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 10 | 6 | Sold | 4 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | Pended | 1 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
In homes below 2000 sf the average list price is about $425,000 and sale, $285,000, excluding zero sales months, still a wide gap. Somehow the 92270 MCM Sellers, in general, have priced themselves out of a stable market. We recommend to Sellers that if their property has had good exposure and not had an offer in 30 days, the price should be reduced 5%, and repeated until it is sold, or at least until it is within 5% of the most recently sold competition. High end or specialty properties might use longer periods since they have fewer potential buyers. | 
Miles Bates house in Palm Desert in Danger 