Real Estate investment in Long Beach California, by Kate Nash.

Real Estate Investment in Long Beach California

By Kate Nash

According to the most recent data from Redfin, Long Beach home prices were up 20.8% compared to the year 2021 selling for a median price of $798K. It is a market dominated by sellers as homes were staying on the market for an average of 37 days. This is an improvement from last year’s 40 days on the market.

The inventory available for sale in Long Beach according to Redfin was down to 220 from 277 recorded last year. Just to summarize;

l The Long Beach housing market is a competitive market. l Many of the homes listed got multiple offers. l On average, homes sell for about 2% above the list price and will go pending for an average of 32 days. l The hot homes will sell at about 6% above the list price and will go pending for about 14 days.

SO AS AN INVESTOR, YOU MAY BE WONDERING, IS LONG BEACH A GOOD PLACE TO INVEST?

Long Beach is a large coastal city with a population of 466,742 people and 111 constituent neighborhoods. Some estimates put Long Beach as the 7th largest community in California. When it comes to housing costs, Long Beach ranks among the most expensive cities in the country, but prices in Long Beach can’t compare to the real estate prices in some of the most expensive communities in California like San Francisco or Los Angeles.

In terms of the worker profile, Long Beach is neither a blue-collar nor a white-collar city, but instead, a mix of both workforces. Overall, we can classify long beach as a city of professionals, sales and office workers, and service providers. In fact, there are a lot of people living in this city who work in office and administrative positions accounting for about 11.77%, sales jobs account

for 9.49% and management occupations account for 9.35%. Basically, the largest share of the population belongs to the middle-upper class.

WHY WOULD YOU INVEST IN LONG BEACH?

Strong job market – the city boasts of warm climate and thanks to this, the city is one of the most desirable locations for many company headquarters and high-profile events. For instance, during 2018, the Grand Prix alone brought to the city a stable influx of renters and those interested in buying commercial properties.

A rise in demand for long-term

accommodation – no doubt, long beach is a city doing so well economically and because of this many people are drawn to the city mostly looking for accommodation. The demand is currently higher than supply especially when it comes to single-family homes. This gives the owners of rental properties a distinct advantage when it comes to pricing.

All-time low vacancy rates – in 2016 and 2017, the vacancy rates in long Beach fell from 18.8% to 14.8%. A trend easily noticeable is the fact that industrial properties are always in high demand which has brought the occupancy rate to a whopping 99%.

Over the past decade, the city has experienced some of the highest home appreciation rates of any community in the country. Long Beach real estate appreciated 117.42% over the last 10 years which on average is 8.08% which puts the city in the top 10% nationally for real estate appreciation.

As such, if you are a home buyer or an investor, this is a city with a proven track record of being the best long-term investment in America and I would definitely recommend you invest in it.