Hollywood Riviera homes for sale - 340 Via Colusa

So Where’s The Big Seasonal Increase in Homes in Torrance?

By Keith KyleHollywood Riviera homes for sale - 340 Via Colusa

As a realtor who has been doing this a while, I’ve come to expect a nice increase in houses for sale in mid to late January. As the holidays wrap up, football season ends, and everyone gets back to work, we generally see a nice increase in homes that hit the market. It can often set the tone for much of the year as and abundance of homes early in the year often seems to stabilize the market one way or another. Unfortunately 2015 hasn’t seen that increase as the number of active homes for sale continues to go down at a time when the homes for sale should be going up. It’s still early enough that sellers may yet be holding off for a week or two to put their homes on the market and it would be welcome relief for the home buyers sitting and waiting.

The chart below shows the number of homes for sale represented by the light green bar. As of January 29th there are only 161 homes for sale in all of Torrance.

 

Townhomes for sale - 2209 Nelson

Torrance Home Inventory Continues to Decline in Early 2015

By Keith Kyle

Townhomes for sale - 2209 Nelson
2209 Nelson

The housing inventory in Torrance, CA is continuing to shrink with the number of available homes for sale decreasing every month since July of 2014.    The first half of 2014 saw a month over month increase in the available homes peaking in the busy summer buying season but that momentum didn’t last.  The peak month of July saw 232 homes available which has gone down every month since.  As of this post there are currently 151 homes currently on the market in the South Bay’s largest city.  The chart below shows the monthly numbers for active homes for sale (light green) current escrows (red line) and closed home sales (dark green).  Please don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions about the market or to receive an updated list of the current homes for sale.

 

Torrance homes for sale sign

Current Torrance CA Foreclosures and Short Sales

Updated January 20th, 2015

While the number of distressed home sales in Torrance has dropped considerably in the past 2 years there are still a number of homes for sale at some stage of the foreclosure process.  Although these homes are not quite the bargains they were there are some homes that are still priced below market value due to the extra work and patience required by the home buyers.  The process has certainly gotten streamlined by the banks but they are still not as straightforward as traditional sales.

Current Torrance short sales

MLS# Type   Address Type  Price  Bed/Bath Year Built Sq Feet
PW14096768 CONDO/A 22334 Harbor Ridge LN #2 FOR, NOD, SPAY  $340,000 3/2,0,1,0 1980/ASR 1553/A
CV14230210 SFR/D 1157 W 225th ST #A FOR, NOD, SPAY  $639,000 5/3,0,0,0 2007/ASR 3068/A
PV14142427 TWNHS/A 3090 Newton ST NOD, SPAY  $629,000 2/3,0,0,0 2003/ASR 1852/A
OC14157232 SFR/D 2693 Hillside DR FOR, NOD, SPAY  $899,900 4/3,0,0,0 1983/ASR 2698/A
14811725 SFR/D 3227 W 188TH ST SPAY  $549,000 4/3,0,0,0 1950 1854
14797349 SFR/D 2701 W 182ND ST SPAY  $450,000 2/1,0,0,0 1946 961
PW14211431 SFR/D 2756 Border AV SPAY  $565,000 3/2,0,1,0 2003/ASR 2020/A

Current Bank Owned Homes and Foreclosures

MLS# Type   Address Type  Price  Bed/Bath Year Built Sq Feet
SB14231286 SFR/D 1323 W 227th ST REO  $369,900 4/2,0,0,0 1956/ASR 1377/A
DW15005743 SFR/D 2119 W 187th ST REO  $508,300 3/2,0,0,0 1959/ASR 1420/A
Luxury interiors

Flipped Homes Becoming Commonplace in North Torrance

By Keith Kyle

You don’t have to look far to see that investor owned “flipped” houses are a significant portion of the active home listings in North Torrance. Investors have long sought out homes in this area as many homes, most built post WWII in the late 1940’s and 1950’s, have not been updated in any significant way but are usually well built and structurally in good shape. Those factors, along with great schools and highly sought after neighborhoods, have made North Torrance a fairly ideal market with low inventory and prices on the rise since early 2013. Gone are the days of distressed sales and short sales, so the margins have grown much tighter but given the demand, expect to see an abundance of remodel and flipped property in 2015.  Below are just a few of the recent flips but there are certainly others and will be more coming to the market.   Contact us about any of these homes, to find out about upcoming remodels or to look for potential investment/”as is” opportunities.

Torrance Sees Gain in Home Prices for November 2014

It’s clear that the real estate market slowdown for the holidays didn’t start in November.  At least not for the number of home sales and home prices in Torrance CA.  Torrance posted another strong month with 99 sold homes at a median price of $575,000.  To see the homes that sold in November visit our South Bay monthly home sales site.

City Homes
Sold
November
2014 Median
November
2013 Median
Year
over Year % Change
Carson 44 $385,000 $337,500 14.07%
El Segundo 7 $853,000 $710,000 20.14%
Gardena 36 $394,000 $366,000 7.65%
Harbor City 16 $450,000 $343,750 30.91%
Hawthorne 35 $436,250 $465,000 -6.18%
Hermosa Beach 12 $1,050,000 $1,089,000 -3.58%
Lawndale 12 $432,500 $320,000 35.16%
Lomita 13 $490,000 $400,000 22.50%
Long Beach 262 $380,000 $365,000 4.11%
Manhattan Beach 40 $1,900,000 $1,987,000 -4.38%
Marina Del Rey 32 $822,100 $1,000,000 -17.79%
Palos Verdes Estates 21 $1,860,000 $1,300,000 43.08%
Playa Del Rey 18 $519,750 $525,000 -1.00%
Rancho Palos Verdes 34 $935,000 $1,010,000 -7.43%
Redondo Beach 66 $790,000 $720,000 9.72%
San Pedro 47 $462,000 $422,500 9.35%

Torrance

99

$575,000

$517,000

11.22%

Westchester 27 $805,000 $749,000 7.48%
Torrance homes with pools

Oh How Torrance Home Values Have Changed

By Keith Kylepool-west-new

I received an odd phone call yesterday from a potential buyer that said she had been given a real estate flyer for a listing at 16808 Delia in North Torrance.  She said it was a well priced short sale and it was.  The only problem was that I sold this house at the beginning of 2012.  It had been a while since I thought of this house and upon pulling up the old listing I struck me just how dramatically the market has changed since then.  It was a very nice home, with a great yard and pool but unfortunately the owners were struggling and had to do a short sale.  We listed the home at $520,000 and it closed at $502,000.

What would it sell for now?

It would be just about impossible to find any single family home in that neighborhood, regardless of condition and size for that price in the North Torrance Homescurrent market.  That home that sold only 2 years ago would now sell for at least $750,000 which is simply incredible.  The speed with which the real estate market in Torrance and the South Bay was stunning and the changes to value equally unbelievable.

How Quickly we forget?

Another aspect of all this that struck me was just how short our memories can be.  Just 2 years ago there were so many homes with great prices and most buyers thought it would continue and go even lower.  These days the poor buyers that didn’t buy are priced completely out of neighborhoods that would have been very affordable.  The thought now is that it of course can only continue going up, but is that really the reality and has that much changed?  It’s certainly a great time to be a home seller, but not necessarily a great time to be a buyer.

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