MAMMOTH, 3RD QUARTER REAL ESTATE SALES RESULTS

JUST IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS

Two things have arrived just in time for Christmas: snow, 131 inches so far according to Mammoth Mountain, and belated third quarter sales results. I must apologize to anyone who hoped for a steady—even weekly—post on this real estate blog. It's not that easy. Life intrudes. The blog gets shoved to the back of the plate like lima beans or brussels-sprouts. The void soon grows into a chasm. Who could blame you for moving on.

Well, I'd promise to do better but all I can offer is to do my best. I'm testing a new hip, two weeks old last Tuesday. And, speaking of early Christmases, I'm heading to Dr. Joel Matta's clinic at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica next Tuesday for a second hip, the left one. 14 days before the fat man's sleigh is due and I'll already have everything on my list.

Recent real estate news has been mostly upbeat. Median home prices are higher in nearly every major market.  Case-Shiller, keepers of a widely followed index of 20 metropolitan real estate markers, pegs the price "recovery" at a two year high.

Confidence among home builders is at a 6 year peak. Mortgage interest rates are near record lows—conforming 30 year fixed rate loans for primary and second homes are at 3.5% with one point—and credit requirements seem to be easing.

With that backdrop, condo sales in Mammoth slipped to 70 units in the July-September quarter from last year's 80 sold condos. The median price drifted lower to $212,500 from $223,000 in the same period in 2011. Sold homes at 18 were marginally behind last year's 20 third quarter homes sales. But the median home price jumped 21% to $642,500. Equally important, listing inventories have shrunk. Just 142 condos are currently for sale in Mammoth and a scant 44 homes. Please email me for a current list of properties available, dennis@mammothrealtygroup.com.

BANKRUPT--SECOND QUARTER AND FIRST HALF RESULTS

The Town's petition for chapter 9 bankruptcy protection recently seems to have been baked into everyone's thinking for months. There's been nary a blip in the real estate markets. Property listing inventories continue to be below last summer's levels--168 condos and just 63 homes--and sales remain strong.

Home sales in the first six months of the year were up nearly 39% to 43 transactions from 31 homes sold in the first half of 2011. The median price of a home sold eased to $650,000 in the first half of 2012 from a median of $680,000 for homes sold in the same time frame last year. The median price strengthened in the current year's second quarter to $675,500 indicating that values have remained virtually unchanged since last year. Condo sales in the first half were off 13% to 124 units from the 142 sold during the same period last year. The median sold price edged higher by 8%.

Short sales and REO's--bank owned properties--remain significant factors in Mammoth's single family and condominium markets. While making up just 6% of home listings and 11% of listed condos, REO's and short sales comprise nearly 50% of all sales. Never the less, I believe the stream of distressed properties is beginning to slow. This will help firm up values.

MAMMOTH CONDO PRICES JUMP!

The lack of snow didn't keep real estate shoppers from snapping up Mammoth Lakes condos and homes in the first quarter of this election year.

74 condos sold from January through March, off marginally from last year's first quarter sales of 78 condos. Interestingly, the median price jumped almost 21% to $268,750 from the 2011 median of $222,500. Reports have been dribbling in of price gains in better neighborhoods down South. Mammoth is a better neighborhood. Could we have turned the corner. In most cycles there are excesses at both the high and low ends so when the correction comes the first moves are often dramatic.This could be the bounce off the bottom we've long anticipated.

Supporting the notion of a stabilizing, if not recovering market, are the inventory numbers which remain remarkably benign in this dismal snow year. Just 161 condos are listed deep into April, and a paltry 64 homes.

Speaking of homes, sales ballooned to 20 transactions in Mammoth's 2012 first quarter, up nearly 50% from last year's 11 homes sold in the same period. While the median price sagged to $541,250 from 2011's first quarter median of $765,000, the absence of new REO listings could portend better times for Mammoth real estate. Just 2 REO's and 8 Short Sale listed homes, and one REO and 15 Short Sale condo listings muddy the pages of Mammoth's MLS.

Miracle March?

It's snowed on Mammoth Mountain. Since February 12, 27 inches have fallen on the ski slopes. The Mountain is reporting a total recorded snowfall for the season of 134 inches and a base of 3.5-5 feet. By most reports skiing is good.

Rumors of a massive March, a "miracle March" like we had in 1991, have been circulating for weeks. Just 42 inches of snow had dusted the Mountain's slopes until March of '91. Then it started snowing and didn't stop. Nearly 176 inches fell. Another March like that and we'd be close to the 340.5 inch average for the past 41 years--100 inches short of the 440.5 inches the last 10 years have averaged--but we could live with that.

In the last two days storms have deposited another 9 inches on the Mountain and a windy system, hammering the slopes right now, is forecast to bring another 6 inches by Friday.

2011 RECAP: SOMEBODY DO SOMETHING

It was a La Nina kind of year. Turbulent. Unpredictable. Disappointing. Dry. The stock market ended within a few points of where it began. The economy came off life support but stayed in the ICU. The ranks of the unemployed remained alarmingly swollen. In real estate, the pace of foreclosures and short sales continued unabated while values slid further south.

In Mammoth 303 condominiums changed hands. Nearly half of them were distressed sales: auctioned, owned by banks or sold short by lenders. That contrasts with 375 sales, in 2010 in which 38% were distressed. The median price of a condo sold in 2011 was $242,000 off 13.5% from 2010's median of  $280,000.

Home sales remained nearly steady at 70 transactions contrasting with 72 sold in 2010. The median price eased 9.2% to $567,500 from $625,000 in 2010. 29% of home sales were bank owned or short sales in 2011 compared with 39% in  2010.

Downward price pressure is not coming from a bloated inventory. Currently there are just 57 homes and 160 condos listed for sale in Mammoth. Well below historical norms. Rather values are being weighed down by distressed properties hitting the market at clearance prices.

On an upbeat note, the Fed's January 11, Beige Book had an opptimistic report on commercial real estate, leading commentator Phil Davis to exclaim, "It is very possible we are finally seeing a bottom." He went on to say that the "Fed and Administration are now looking to concentrate their firepower on residential real estate." Calling it "the last major drag on the economy."

Interest rates on conforming 30 year fixed rate loans dipped below 4 % last week, to a new 40 year low.