20 Homes sold in the Hollywood Riviera during the 3rd Quarter of 2008 – July 1st through September 30th – that is a 35% drop from the 3rd quarter last year.  We also have a much greater time on market for these properties – quarter over quarter.  48 Days for 3rd quarter ’07 vs. 80 Days this quarter – in other words, it takes 40% longer to sell in today€™s market.  Due to both of these factors it is not a surprise that our average SOLD price is down 22% over the 3rd quarter of last year.  It was the 3rd quarter last year (September) that the mortgage markets started to falter; a year has gone by and the effects are being felt here in our €œinsulated€ marketplace.  The effects aren€™t as bad as some other areas are facing, so for now we are still very lucky.  From everything we hear though, the worst is not over.  Confirmation of this theory is found in the Daily Breeze who published an article on Sept 25th regarding the South Bay’s Economic Forecast being publicized at the Torrance Marriott.  As per the new study:

Thankfully, even as the U.S. and California economies continue to stumble badly, a new economic forecast suggests the South Bay will “get off relatively easily.”  “The South Bay is going to be hit, but not as hard as most areas,” Jon Havemancq, the author of the South Bay Economic Development Partnership’s Annual Economic Forecast. 

And for homeowners who have been watching their property values drop, the slide is likely to continue. South Bay home prices have fallen 15 percent since the market peak in 2006. Local home prices will drop another 11 percent by the end of 2009, with a cumulative decline of 38 percent by 2012, the report says. 

“All in all, the region will get off relatively easily,” the report says. “These declines are very small relative to those likely for broader Los Angeles, the state as a whole or the nation.”