There were a number of shifts in the Carlsbad housing market in December. Here are the details.
A total of 131 homes sold in Carlsbad in December which was up by 7% from November. Who says buyers are not busy during the holidays?!
Detached Homes Sold – 74 (down 3% from November). Homes averaged 32 days on the market, and the average sales price was $1,101,049. Average sales price was 97% of the original asking price.
Attached Homes (condos, town homes, twin homes) Sold – 57 (up 24%), averaging 38 days on the market. The average sales price was $615,948 (down 13%). Average sales price was 97% of original asking price
Carlsbad home sales in December increased from November, mostly due to a big increase for attached homes since there was a slight decline in detached single family homes sales . The average sales price was lower for both compared to November. 15% of the transactions were cash buyers.
Looking back 1 year to December 2018, detached home sales were up by 30%, while there were 37% more attached home sales. The average sales price also shifted, and was up by 4% for detached homes, but 1% lower for attached homes compared to December 2018.
Average time on market (DOM) dropped modestly by several days for both detached and attached homes; buyers clearly cannot wait too long to make decisions on homes they like.
On average Carlsbad buyers negotiated the price of their homes 3% off the original asking price. But at the same time 33% of the home buyers paid asking price or better for their homes, a good indication of the competition in the market and similar to what we saw in November.
The median sales price for detached homes was $1,092,450, 4% lower than in November, and $565,000 for attached (8% lower).
There were 199 Carlsbad homes listed for sale at the end of December, ranging in price from $349,000 to $26,950,000, which is 21% fewer than last month. This is not really a surprise given the holiday season.
Current inventory in Carlsbad is pretty tight, only 1.8 months for attached homes and 1.3 months for detached, based on the current rate of sales over the last 3 months. Carlsbad remains a very strong sellers’ market based on current inventory and buyer demand and became even more competitive in December.
In December 95 new listings hit the market, a significant decline from 114 last month, but that’s still 3 new listings per day in a busy holiday month! 75 homes went pending in December (excluding homes that closed), which was 33% fewer than in November.
This summary of the Carlsbad housing market is based on information provided by the MLS. If you are interested I can provide more details, as well as data for specific neighborhoods of Carlsbad that interest you, such as La Costa, Aviara and Bressi Ranch.
Please contact me at (760) 840-1360 so we can discuss your housing needs, timing, lifestyle and budget, and any questions you have. After that we can plan a strategy to get you into a new Carlsbad home in 2020, and/or help you sell your current Carlsbad home this year.