Over the past couple of months I have mentioned that I expected listing inventory to increase, sales activity to increase and the rate of price appreciation to slow. While these things have been happening I didn’t expect the average sale price to fall as much as it did month over month. In April the average sales price in Wolf Creek declined 16% from the month before to $346,000, which is actually 11% lower than the average sales price in April 2013. I do not believe this is a trend or anything to be overly concerned with as the underlying market factors remain strong and I would never read too much into one months worth of numbers. The lowest sale for the month in Wolf Creek was $270,000, for a condo, and the highest sale came in at $436,000.

As you will see from the graph above, the number of listings coming to market has been increasing over the past few months at a pace that exceeds the increase in sales activity. Listings increased 14% month over month to 42, the highest level we have seen in the past year, while sales increased 25% month over month to 13. Wolf Creek has seen a larger influx on property coming to market as many people, previously unable to sell, found themselves able to after the appreciation of last year. The increase in supply was greater than the increase in demand, which put, what I feel is temporary, downward pressure on pricing.

On a positive note, the days to sell fell to 46 (Temecula overall is averaging 60) as buyers rushed to take advantage of the best values on the market.

Overall inventory levels also declined to just under 3 months. With supply becoming more constrained, especially as we enter the busy season for buying, we will see appreciation move back into positive territory.

The continued decline in distressed properties is one of the best indicators of how much our Wolf Creek Real Estate Market has improved. 7.5% of the sales in April involved distressed properties compared to 23% in April 2013.