Second-home ownership is a big player in the Coachella Valley, reflecting an overall real estate trend in California.
The state has the highest number of remote owners, and 31 percent of those in California live in the Coachella Valley. More than 73 percent of attached homes in the valley are remotely owned, according to Michael McDonald, principal of Market Watch, a real estate advisory firm.
• See related story: A Tale of Nine Cities Market Watch Seminar
Second-home and remote home ownership were the hot topics of the Market Watch spring seminar, a Palm Springs Life event held May 8 at Toscana Country Club in Indian Wells.
The second-home market consists of people who own a second home and rent to a local household full-time, who use the home but have a primary residence elsewhere, or who use the home for short-term rentals. In the desert, the latter two are most common, McDonald said.
The current market favors sellers, according to McDonald, who added that the average amount of time a home spends on the market is 64 days.
“When demand exceeds supply, that’s when certain prices tend to go up,” he explained. “When supply exceeds demand, then there’s downward pressure, because too many people are trying to sell, and there aren’t enough buyers, so they have to give ground on price. Those two metrics are measured by inventory.”
The supply, according to McDonald, “is at about the lowest levels, really, in the last five years. There’s going to be upward pressure on prices because the balance of supply and demand is very positive in favor of the sellers — it’s called the seller’s market. The sellers are in control because there are not very many of them, and there are a lot of buyers.”
The Market Watch fall seminar is set for November.
Toscana Country Club
76009 Via Club Villa
Indian Wells, CA 92210
760-772-7000
toscanacc.com