Demand is up for homes in the High Desert, but the supply isn’t keeping up, according to November real estate data.
    Nearly half the homes for sale in the High Desert sold last month, based on Victor Valley Multiple Listing Service figures compiled by Larry Trombley of Century 21 Rose Realty in Hesperia. His report shows that 497 out of 1071 available homes sold in November.
    “The buyers are out there,” Trombley said. “When a property hits the market, if it’s decent, they get five offers.”
    But the number of homes available is still drastically down — 4.6 percent fewer than in October, and a whopping 71.3 percent fewer than last November.
    Trombley says he’s puzzled by the lack of inventory.
    “Everybody says the amount of foreclosures is still high, but nobody’s putting them on the market,” he said.
    Even so, repossessed homes continued to dominate sales. According to Trombley, 31 percent of homes for sale in November were bank-owned, but those properties made up 74 percent of the homes sold.
    Prices for local homes continued to inch up, as they have for the past several months.
    Still, they’re still far below what homes sold for this time last year, according to Trombley. November’s prices went up 1.6 percent compared to October of this year — but they were down 1 7.7 p e r c e n t co m p a re d t o November of last year.
    The number of closed sales last month dropped 18 percent from October, but that was still 13.7 percent higher than November 2008.
    “This month there was a drop in sales, but it has a lot to do with that limited inventory and the time of year,” Trombley said, noting that the holiday season is always slower.

BY HOLLY LA PAT
SPECIAL TO THE DAILY PRESS