La Canada Housing Market for January 2021

.Let’s take a look at the La Canada housing market for January 2021:

Last month, nine homes sold at the asking price, one of the eighteen sold at the asking price and eight less than the asking. Five La Canada homes had price reductions before selling.

The least expensive home sold was a two-bedroom, two-bath, 1,074-square-foot home at 4640 Hillard Ave.  It sold for $1,371,000, $332,000 over the asking price. The most expensive home sold was a five-bedroom, five-bathroom, 5,742 square-foot home at 619 Knight Way which sold for the asking price $3,775,000.  

Compare this year’s numbers from last year’s – Both the median and average price per square foot have jumped. 

The absorption rate indicates less than one and one-half months of inventory. This reflects an extremely favorable seller’s market.

For nearly one year it’s all been about COVID! According to Core Logic: COVID-19 Impact on Home Prices

The housing market exceeded expectations in 2020, closing out the year with the highest annual home price gain since February 2014 in December at 9.2%. Despite a blip in April, home-purchase demand surged as record-low mortgage rates persuaded first-time homebuyers to enter the market. Meanwhile, the consequences of the pandemic were seen in the dwindling supply of homes — dropping, on average, 24% below 2019 levels — as homeowners delayed selling.

These factors translated to significant home price growth in 2020, surpassing the previous year’s levels with an average monthly year-over-year gain of 5.7%, compared with 3.8% in 2019. However, with the severe shortage of for-sale homes, we may see rising affordability concerns. Likely some prospective buyers will be priced out of the market in 2021.