The housing market has been red hot in the Coachella Valley during the pandemic.
Recent buyers like Aaron Arroyo say they feel fortunate to have secured one of the few homes available in an extremely competitive market.
“It took about four or five offers on various houses. In a lot of instances, it was people who were paying cash over asking price and were ready to go, needed no financing or anything like that,” said Arroyo.
Home prices hit record highs during the pandemic, with several cities seeing an increase of 30 percent over the last year.
Experts say that growth is limited.
“You know the pendulum swings, we run into sellers markets where the price goes up, up, up and up, and eventually the pendulum comes back and swings the other way,” said Richard Pluschau, a real estate professional with Bennion Deville Homes.
Adding to the problem, inventory reached a historic low in July.
This time last year there were over 2,300 units available, now there are just 662 on the market.
“The normal inventory here years ago used to run between 4,000 and 5,000 units. Supply is extremely low and demand is extremely high,” said Pluschau.
But new real estate data shows things are starting to change.
According to Redfin, pending sales and mortgage purchase applications slowed in June nationwide, it was the first major dip since the pandemic began.
Experts say this trend could reach the Coachella valley in the next few months.
“We’ll hit the peak, whether it’s one month or two months or three months from now, and the forecast is that mortgage interest rates will gradually increase, there’s going to be less and less buyer demand,” said Pluschau.
As demand slowly stabilizes, Richard hopes more buyers will be able to find their dream home in the valley like Aaron did.
“We’re going to be continuing to kind of fix up the home and just enjoy it, that’s the goal,” said Arroyo.