Long Beach is Among the Top 10 Markets in the Country

Homes Along Alamitos Bay, Long Beach

The top 10 markets in the country right now are ranked as follows, according to Michael Sklarz, principal of Collateral Analytics and contributing author to Home Value Forecast :

Top Markets

1. Boston-Quincy, Massachusetts
2. Cambridge-Newton-Framingham, Massachusetts
3. Indianapolis-Carmel, Indiana
4. Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine, California
5. Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, California
6. Raleigh-Cary, North Carolina
7. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, California
8. Wichita, Kansas
9. Colorado Springs, Colorado
10. San Antonio-New Braunfels, Texas

The high end markets in the Bay Area and around Los Angeles are showing stronger price growth compared to lower priced markets. The buyer profile shows lower loan-to-value mortgages, and are affected less by the current tight underwriting circumstances.   Manhattan Beach has seen prices rise to all-time highs; Los Angeles County may be in the early stages of an upward price cycle.  These markets were included in the top 10  "based on factors such as sales/listing activity and prices, months of remaining inventory (MRI), days on market (DOM), sold-to-list price ratio, and foreclosure and REO activity."

Is this a permanent situation? A company called Radar Logic says that the current rise in prices is unsustainable, and that the entry of so many investors with all-cash may actually be dampening growth, and that this situation will not last with even growth into the future for some time to come.  Diminishing inventories have helped fuel sudden price growth, and "Corporate investors were most active during November in hard-hit markets. In fact, half of all corporate purchases took place in just five markets-ones considered especially affected by the housing crisis. Those markets include Miami, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Atlanta, and Las Vegas," areas where investors paid 25% more in November, 2012 than the same time the previous year.