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Prices Continue Increasing Across Long Beach Real Estate Markets
Prices Continue Increasing Across Long Beach Real Estate Markets
Residential and commercial real estate sales prices and rental rates continue to increase in Long Beach, according to industry experts. Though prices continue to climb across all markets, rate of appreciation has begun to slow, Edward Coulson, a professor of economics and the director of research at the University of California, Irvine Center for Real Estate, noted.
Home prices continue to climb despite a slowdown in sales. “The bottom line is we seem to be seeing a flattening out of [home] prices in a lot of areas in the Southland,” Coulson said. “You could attribute that to a lot of things, [including] the affordability issue and the last tax bills we had. But we can be encouraged going forward that it doesn’t look like there’s going to be any more [interest] rate hikes.”
Rising prices mean a shrinking buyer pool, which equates to a longer time on market for sellers, according to University of Southern California’s John Loper, an associate professor of real estate. As wages increase, Loper said the buyer pool should grow, as well. He added that many families are moving from coastal cities to the less expensive Inland Empire to buy their first homes.
The multi-family market has been strong, Loper said, citing rising single-family home prices as the key driving factor. “A lot of people are staying in the multi-family realm longer until they can afford to buy their first house,” he explained. Increasing rents and a lack of supply has caused fewer people to move to coastal Southern California areas than in previous years, Loper noted.
In the midst of a statewide housing crisis, Coulson explained that high-density residential developments, such as apartments, condominiums and townhomes, would ease affordability issues by maximizing the introduction of new product. However, he cited NIMBYism (Not In My Backyard) as a constant hurdle. To combat the housing crisis, Gov. Gavin Newsom has pushed for increased housing development.
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