Is now the time to be buying in this part of the San Fernando Valley??
Northridge has been the cornerstone of the San Fernando Valley for many years now. Not only is it one of the nicer neighborhoods in the SFV, but it is also the home of California State University at Northridge. So with the opportunity for a great education (for yourself or children), and a quaint neighborhood feel, is Northridge the Southern California City to be investing in right now?? Let’s Examine!
By taking a look at the chart above we can begin to form a hypothesis about this market. If you were to take a look at some of the other cities that we have previously examined, you would immediately notice that this is a relatively calm/mild market. What we can see here is that pending and sold homes have remained reasonably stable, while the number of properties for sale has decreased drastically. Without any other information I believe the most reasonable assumption would be that the local economy has picked up slightly and less people are desperate to sell their homes and lower their expenses.
However we do have a lot more information, so lets take a look at it and see if our initial hypothesis still stands.
(click to enlarge)
Looking at the table above there are several key performance indicators that stand out to me. First thing I notice is that the when you look at the number of sales per month plus the number of new listings per month, and compare it to the total number of properties for sale, we find that in these past few months there is very little carry over in listings. The market seems to be moving rather efficiently, and another indicator of this is the low days-on-market figure.
Another trend that makes me believe that this market is somewhat efficient is that the differential between the average active price and the average sold price is at a 15 month low. Therefore sellers and buyers are on the same about what the property is worth.
For these reasons, and several more (which if you email me, I will provide), I believe that the housing market is at a safe place to buy into. Unless influenced from an outside source, this market should not experience any major swings one way or another; and should be a steady long term investment.
Feel free to send me any questions regarding buying or selling in Northridge.
-JJM
John is the Vice President here at JohnHart, and as such is responsible for managing and directing the firm towards obtaining its ultimate goals.
He is also one of our main contributors on the Blog. (please see his profile page on the main site for more information.)
