Carlsbad Homes: Beauty Contests and Price Wars
July 24th, 2010 Categories: Carlsbad Real Estate, la costa real estate
by: Roberta Murphy
Carlsbad, CA–We watch Carlsbad real estate closely, with special attention to homes in La Costa–because that is where we live and office.
When the sign went up in the yard at 3001 La Costa Avenue, we checked the MLS listing and this neat and well-groomed 4-bedroom, 2.5-bath home is priced with a broad range of $545,000 to $625,000. It’s in the highly-desired San Dieguito School District, has no HOA fees, and sits on over one-third acre.
Price, of course, is relative. But the lower end of this range would make the home a strong bargain in the South La Costa market. But discussion of this listing is relevant here only to the extent that the goal is to discuss local “market absorption rate” and theoretically how long, on average, it will take homes and condos to sell in the 92009 zip code.
As might be expected, the detached home market is much stronger than the condo market in Carlsbad, and La Costa is no exception. Considering the annual number of sales along with those in the last month, a single family home owner in the 92009 zip can currently expect, on average, a market time of around 3.7 months, while condos are facing a 5.5-month rate of absorption. Of course, actual time on market will depend hugely upon property condition and price.
Some listings sell in a matter of hours or days: They are in desirable neighborhoods, reflect sparkling condition–and are bargains to boot. They are offered by sellers who recognize that they are competing in both a beauty contest and a price war.
And they usually win.
