Below is a market update for residential properties in the Big Bear Valley for the week of March 17 to March 23.

Given that residential properties are the majority of sales in Big Bear, I have focused on this type of property. If you are interested in the stats for vacant land, commercial, or condos, please let me know.

New, pending, and sold listings in Big Bear Lake were very similar to the prior week with no major swings noted.

Pending listings in Big Bear City nearly doubled last week, up from 3 to 8, with the average days on the market for pendings down by nearly 2/3rds.  New listings and sold listings had similar stats to the previous week.

Sugarloaf real estate numbers were also pretty consistent with the previous week.  With one closed sale over the past two weeks, sales have been slow in this part of Big Bear.

Fawnskin is still seeing limited activity though there was one new listing and one new closed sale.  Not enough to be really happy about in my opinion.

This information will be updated on a weekly and monthly basis. Be sure to check back or sign up for my email newsletter to be kept informed on the real estate market conditions in Big Bear.

* Information updated weekly, courtesy of the Big Bear MLS. This update includes MLS data from areas including Big Bear Lake, Big Bear City, Moonridge, Fox Farm, Sugarloaf, Erwin Lake, Fawnskin & Baldwin Lake. It does not include data from areas in the Big Bear MLS that are located outside of the Big Bear area. Information is deemed reliable but cannot be guaranteed.

Below is the update for the Big Bear real estate market as of 3/24/2008.

The residential properties listed for sale in Big Bear are up 22 from  1081 homes for sale to 1103.  There are 51 more homes on the market now as compared to 5 weeks ago when I started tracking these numbers. The number of homes in escrow is down 1 from last week to 91 while home sales year to date are now at 92 Big Bear homes sold since the beginning of the year, up 10 from last week.  That makes for 23 homes sales in the past two weeks….not bad.

Vacant land listings in Big Bear are down 3 to 336 parcels now for sale. The number of pending sales is down 2 from last week for a total of 23 escrows for vacant land. There were 3 new closed sales this past week so year to date sales for vacant land are now at 15 closed sales.

There are 62 condos for sale in the Big Bear area, 2 less that last week. There were 2 new pending escrows but no new closed sales.  The total pending escrows for condos stands at 3 while year to date sales for condos in Big Bear remained at 2.

The rest of the real estate market in Big Bear, including government leases, commercial and residential investments, and busniess opportunites remained relatively the same as last week.

See last week’s real estate market numbers.

Be sure to check back here every Monday for your Big Bear Market Update or click here to get this emailed to you every week.

* Information updated weekly, courtesy of the Big Bear MLS. This update includes MLS data from areas including Big Bear Lake, Big Bear City, Moonridge, Fox Farm, Sugarloaf, Erwin Lake, Fawnskin & Baldwin Lake. It does not include data from areas in the Big Bear MLS that are located outside of the Big Bear area.

A recent article by the L.A. Times says the median price of homes in the Big Bear area dropped between 15-25% in February of 2008 as compared to February 2007.

It is interesting to compare this with the median home prices for Big Bear that I posted on earlier this month. My stats show an average drop in the median homes prices of 14% for the Big Bear area in the month of Feb. I am using the Big Bear MLS for my stats while it looks like they might be using title records as they are showing 3 more sales in the month of February than I am.

Either way, I think the 25% is on the high end of things while 14% is going to be on the low end of things.

It is very important to keep things in perspective. Just like every real estate market is different, each property is different and needs to be treated like such. To use blanket statements based on averages or medians is to not understand the real estate market.

For example, to use these figures above and apply it to the lakefront market in Big Bear would be ridiculous. Lakefront values and prices have continually held strong in Big Bear, actually going up nearly double the past 5-6 years. Conversely, if you are looking at a bank owned or REO option, then these numbers might be a little under what the real numbers are.

There are many news stories out there claiming various numbers and statistics. Be sure to talk with a real estate professional in the Big Bear area who can digest all these numbers and can give you the real story on market conditions.

Below is a market update for residential properties in the Big Bear Valley for the week prior.  Given that residential properties are the majority of sales in Big Bear, I will focus on this type of property.  If you are interested in the stats for vacant land, commercial, or condos, please let me know. 

This information will be updated on a weekly and monthly basis. Be sure to check back or sign up for my email newsletter to be kept informed on the real estate market conditions in Big Bear.

* Information updated weekly, courtesy of the Big Bear MLS. This update includes MLS data from areas including Big Bear Lake, Big Bear City, Moonridge, Fox Farm, Sugarloaf, Erwin Lake, Fawnskin & Baldwin Lake. It does not include data from areas in the Big Bear MLS that are located outside of the Big Bear area.  Information is deemed reliable but cannot be guaranteed.

Below is the update for the Big Bear real estate market as of 3/17/2008.

The residential properties listed for sale in Big Bear are up 17 from 1064 homes for sale to 1081. The number of homes in escrow is down 7 from last week to 92 while home sales year to date are now at 82 Big Bear homes sold since the beginning of the year, up 13 from last week.

Vacant land listings in Big Bear were up 14 to 339 now for sale in the Big Bear Valley. The number of pending sales is down 3 from last week for a total of 25 escrows for vacant land. There were 4 new closed sales so year to date sales for vacant land are now at 12 closed sales.

Selling a condo in the Big Bear area continues to be very tough. There are 64 condos for sale, 1 less that last week.  There was 1 new pending escrow and one new closed sale, bringing the total to 2 closed sales this year with 1 pending sale.

The rest of the real estate market in Big Bear, including government leases, & commercial and residential investments remained relatively the same as last week.

Busniess opporunities in the area saw one new closed sale to bring the total up to 3 closed sales in 2008.  There is currently one pending sale in escrow.

See last week’s real estate market numbers.

Be sure to check back here every Monday for your Big Bear Market Update or click here to get this emailed to you every week.

* Information updated weekly, courtesy of the Big Bear MLS. This update includes MLS data from areas including Big Bear Lake, Big Bear City, Moonridge, Fox Farm, Sugarloaf, Erwin Lake, Fawnskin & Baldwin Lake. It does not include data from areas in the Big Bear MLS that are located outside of the Big Bear area.

The absorption rate provides a clear picture of what is happening in the real estate market and is good to share with buyers and sellers.

I determine the absorption rate for Big Bear by taking the previous month’s sales in a particular price range or area (you can use others like bedrooms, square footage and such), and divide that into the total number of available properties in that same criteria set.  This will give you the amount of months it will take for the market to absorb the properties for sale, assuming no other properties come on the market.

I prefer to use the previous month’s numbers rather than going back a full year or 6 months because the last month is more representative of the current market conditions. 

Determining the absorption rate by going back 12 months can be done, though I feel it is outdated.  Sales that happen 12 months ago really don’t show how the market is currently performing.

Why is this important?  Knowing the absorption rate will tell you what the real estate conditions are like in a particular price range and area.  If you are selling your property, this will help when determining your asking price.  When getting ready to buy, this will help you become more informed on what segments of the market might provide you with more leverage.

                                                                  Absorption Rate By Price Range

                                                                        Absorption Rates By Area

By price range, the properties for sale in the price ranges of $300,000 and below, and $500,001 to $1,000,000 did the best last month.  The properties priced between $300,001 to $500,000 and $1,000,001 and over did the worst in February.

By location or area, Big Bear Lake West & Central, along with Fox Farm and Sugarloaf had the best sales activity rates while Lake Williams, Baldwin Lake, Erwin Lake, Big Bear City, Fawnskin, Whispering Forest, Moonridge, and Big Bear Lake East did not perform as well last month.

The key to both of these is the amount of homes for sale.  There are 361 homes for sale in the $300,001 to $500,000 price range and only 5 sales last ast month.  Likewise, there were 204 homes for sale in Moonridge with only 4 sales last month.

If you are considering selling or buying in the Big Bear, make sure you know these numbers.

Big Bear Absorption Rates For January 2008

Big Bear Absorption Rates For February 2008

I provide Big Bear real estate updates all the time.  Absorption rates are updated on a monthly basis, market updates on a weekly and monthly basis, and neighborhood updates for areas like Castle Glen, Meadowbrook Estates, and Big Bear lakefront properties from time to time.

Be sure to check back or sign up for my real estate newsletter feed and make it easier on yourself.