A strong showing of new real estate listings in December, traditionally one of the slowest months of the year for real estate, has helped bring the number of homes for sale in Pasadena to near pre-pandemic levels, but high demand is keeping the inventory supply limited to a little over a month, according to industry data and experts.
After being severely limited by the COVID-19 pandemic, home inventory in the city has shown slow but steady progress in recent months, according to Cynthia Cohn, owner of Pasadena-based Cynthia Cohn and Associates.
“In April, the number of new listings went down considerably, and then over the last six months, inventory has been creeping up,” she said. “Thankfully, in December, we did see an uptick and the number of new listings, up to 91 new listings in Pasadena, which represented that 30% increase [over December].
“So at this point, we’re still slightly below the number of homes for sale in this December compared to 2019, but we’re close to it as in we’re about 3.8% away from where we were,” Cohn said.
A total of 183 homes were up for sale in Pasadena in December 2019, compared with 176 last December, according to data compiled by TrendVision.
And they were selling fast.
While 62% of available homes sold in December 2019, 83% of homes available last December were sold, according to TrendVision data.
The high level of demand was helping to keep inventory levels at a 1.2 month supply, compared with 1.6 months in December 2019, Cohn said.
“We had a lot of activity in December in regards to open escrows and accepted offers,” she said. “Right now, on average, we’re a little bit over one-month supply, and those are low levels that we haven’t seen.”
The trend was not affecting homes at all price levels equally, however.
Looking specifically at homes priced at $2 million or higher, Pasadena had a 3.6-month inventory, down from 5.4 months in December 2019, according to the TrendVision data.
Thirteen of 47 such listed homes sold in December, compared with 10 of 54 homes priced at over $2 million sold in December 2019.
Cohl suspected several factors were driving the increased demand.
“It’s a combination. We have, historically, some of the lowest interest rates that we’ve ever had,” she said.
Amid the ongoing pandemic, “We’re spending more time in our homes than we ever have and creating a home and a comfortable home. It’s all about home right now,” she said. “If you don’t own one or if you’re uncomfortable in the one that you have because you’re spending so much time there, you are more inclined to maybe make a move.”
