It is our pleasure to bring you the Compass 2021 SoCal + Hawaii Q4 2021 Market Report. We are expanding our coverage to include Palm Springs/Palm Desert, Orange County, and Hawaii (Oahu, Maui, and Hawaii). The top real estate story in the fourth quarter continued to focus on inventory constraints—simply not enough homes for sale to meet increased demand. The move-up market stalled with potential sellers asking, “where will I go?” This was true throughout Southern California and Hawaii.
Rising home prices from everywhere reflected this key market fundamental as home prices hit record highs. On the Westside, Brentwood’s average sales price for single-family homes increased 41 percent to $6.3 million. The average sales price for Culver City condos rose 26 percent to $863,763. The good news for sellers is the equity in their homes grew at unprecedented rates.
While inventory reached historic lows, sales activity declined in most markets. Home sales activity in Orange County fell by 17 percent year-over-year. While in Palm Springs/Palm Desert home sales activity decreased by 21 percent. Days on market proved how quickly buyers made decisions. In Irvine, condo buyers made offers very quickly resulting in those condos selling 22 days faster than last year.
During these turbulent times, Compass professionals continued to advise sellers on strategically selling their homes for the best offer and price. Advising buyers and submitting that “winning offer” was a challenge in all markets. Compass agents continued to prove the value of working with a respected professional with deep market knowledge and a network of industry contacts to assure smooth and successful transactions from showings to closings.