Laguna Beach Market Continues to Trail

After a promising run in the past couple of weeks, the Laguna Beach real estate market slowed down yet again to become the second slowest in Orange County, a report by real estate firm Altera stated last week.

The city's market time actually dropped from 11.03 months to 10.31, but other cities on the south coast-most notably Dana Point and San Clemente-showed much higher improvements. Dana Point's market time went from 6.19 months to 5.18 months, while San Clemente dropped from 3.96 months to 3.77.

Laguna Beach is surpassed only by the seaside village of Corona del Mar, where homes spend an average of 16.25 months on the market. Other slow markets include Newport Beach and Newport Coast, both of which have market times close to one year.

The countywide average is up slightly from 2.42 months to 2.48 months, although experts remain confident that the figures will pick up in the future. This time of the year generally tends to be slow, and sales are expected to go up again starting January 2010.

Studies have shown a strong link between home prices and market times, as homes in the million-dollar range tend to sell more slowly countywide. With an average selling price of $4 million, it's no surprise that Laguna Beach has been one of the slowest real estate markets to recover from the recession.

Steven Thomas from Altera Real Estate says that million-dollar homes, which account for 29% of active listings, spend an average of 10.37 months on the market. He added that market times exceeding 10 months make it a “deep buyer's market,” where sales are almost frozen.

 

Earlier in Laguna Beach Real Estate News:
Montage Resort Plans $400 Million Utah Expansion
Emerald Bay Home Slashes Price By $1 Million
Laguna Beach Market Times Rise To 14.5 Months