Monthly Archives: September 2012

Warm Weather and Hot Rents in LA

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As we begin to approach the fall, you can bet the weather will cool down but the apartment market will continue its hot streak. The Los Angeles Infill Team has been paying close attention to apartment rental trends and has seen favorable signs for continued rent growth.

Apartment rental rates in Los Angeles continued on their strong path of growth as seen in year-over-year data in the second quarter 2012. Average rents for all types of rental units increased 5.3%. The biggest surprise may be the average YOY growth seen in both two and three bedroom townhome units. Rents in two bedroom townhome units increased an average of 13.8%, while rents in three bedroom townhome units increased 17.2%. Townhome and three bedroom units have seen a large boost in pricing as many families displaced by foreclosure try to find units large enough to accommodate them. Several buyers, including investors and developers, are paying close attention to these statistics and are pushing to purchase properties with the ability to build and rent townhomes then convert them to condominiums as the for-sale market improves. Average occupancy rates have continued to tick upwards and touched 95.5% in Q2 2012 for metro Los Angeles.

These are strong signs keeping the search for apartment land deals atop the list of many builders and developers. The Los Angeles Infill Team at Land Advisors recently transacted on a rental townhome project and has a handful of other apartment deals under contract. Our team is well versed in the local rental market and eager to discuss available and active apartment projects.

For further questions and information, please contact Chris Gomez-Ortigoza, Tim Barden or Richard Byrd at (626) 376-9840.

The following news articles highlight the strength of the rental market in Los Angeles and throughout Southern California.

http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Rents-on-the-Rise-Across-Southern-California-147394535.html

http://www.zoliath.com/commercial-real-estate-blog/2012/09/12/los-angeles-apartment-market-set-for-significant-growth/

Source: Chris Gomez-Ortigoza, Marketing Consultant

Sacramento… Healing Period?

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Over the last 6 months, the Sacramento region has posted solid housing numbers to give the new home builders optimism for the future of this area.  Stuck in the mud for the last 2-3 years, the region looks like it is pulling itself off the bottom and headed in a better direction.  Although REO sales are still plentiful compared to 2005, the trends are positive.

The region should see approximately 15,000 REO sales this year, but that is 15% less than 2011 and 30% of peak 2008 numbers (22,131).  New home sales for the region are expected to almost double what they were for 2011, climbing up well over 3,000 new home sales for 2012.  It also important to note that currently in the region, new home sales account for approximately 3.4% of total home sales and that at the peak of the market, new home sales accounted for approximately 26.3% of the overall home sale market.

With this further evidence of a bottoming of the housing market and plenty of room to mature, builders have anticipated the next boom and they are back buying again. Approximately a half dozen deals have been purchased over the last few months with more builder deals currently in escrow.

Source: Jim Radler, Senior Marketing Consultant, (916) 784-3329 ext. 11

The Bay Area housing market is back on fire… but is it sustainable???

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What can we attribute the turnaround in the market too? In simple terms, it’s back to the old supply/demand curve. In the depths of the housing market depression (think back to 2009), many cities were running resale inventories of several hundred homes and typically at least 50% of those homes were in some sort of distressed condition (bank owned, short sale, etc.).

Now, when we look at the market it’s done a complete 180. Inventory levels are down to their lowest levels since the peak of the housing market back in 2005-2006 and the percentage of distressed sales is down significantly from a few years ago. The question everyone should be asking is whether this is sustainable or is the “shadow inventory” of distressed homes about to flood the market and put a damper on things.

In our opinion, given how low the inventory levels are and the strength of most markets, even a doubling in the number of distressed homes on the market will probably not have much of an adverse effect on the market and in some circumstances might actually be helpful. FULL STORY

Source: Steve Reilly, Marketing Consultant, (925) 368-3128

Take a quick look at the inventory and sales levels of many of the East Bay Cities and decide for yourself if we’re in the beginning stages of a long term bull market in housing.

Active Listings Distressed Listings Percent Distressed Avg Monthly Sales Rate Months of Supply Based on 2012   Closed Sales
Antioch 101 55 54% 123 0.82
Brentwood 71 24 34% 82 0.87
Castro Valley 71 12 17% 41 1.72
Concord 73 34 47% 99 0.74
Disco Bay 43 8 19% 24 1.76
Dublin 22 9 41% 27 0.81
Fremont 133 10 8% 122 1.09
Hayward 82 30 37% 97 0.85
Livermore 85 16 19% 82 1.04
Oakley 39 17 44% 46 0.85
Pittsburg 34 19 56% 56 0.61
Pleasanton 67 6 9% 57 1.17
San Leandro 50 12 24% 72 0.69
San Ramon 49 12 24% 61 0.81
Union City 30 13 43% 36 0.83
Walnut Creek 57 2 4% 47 1.23