Market Reports

As we settle into the quieter rhythm of winter on the Monterey Peninsula, it's hard not to be reminded why this coastline remains such a special place to call home. Crisp mornings, glowing sunsets over the Pacific, and the year-round beauty of Carmel, Pebble Beach, and Monterey create a lifestyle that continues to draw people here from near and far. Looking back, 2025 was a solid and encouraging year for local real estate, marked by steady buyer interest, resilient pricing, and a market that continued to reflect the long-term appeal of living in one of the most desirable regions in California.

As summer unfolds before transitioning into fall, the third quarter on the Monterey Peninsula traditionally brings a dynamic blend of activity and anticipation. Between the excitement of Monterey Car Week, the arrival of second-home buyers escaping the summer heat elsewhere, and a general uptick in visitor traffic through Carmel-by-the-Sea, Pebble Beach, and surrounding areas, Q3 often sets the tone for the year's real estate narrative. Historically, this is when momentum builds, transaction numbers are strong, luxury buyers return to market, and we gain insights into the trajectory for the year's end.

As winter transitioned into spring and the longer sunlit days of early summer, the Monterey Peninsula real estate market entered its active selling season. The second quarter traditionally brings heightened energy to the market, and the early part of the quarter delivered, driven by fresh inventory, strong buyer interest, and the unmistakable allure of life along the Monterey Peninsula's iconic coastline. However, the momentum briefly paused as global economic uncertainty—sparked by newly announced tariffs and a sharp dip in the stock market—led to a temporary slowdown in transactions. Still, the resilience of the market quickly reasserted itself. By June, activity picked up once again, closing out the quarter with strength and signaling renewed confidence as we head into the heart of the summer season.

The Monterey Peninsula's real estate market experienced a strong start to 2025. The overall market saw a 14.6% increase in home sales this quarter versus Q1 of last year. In addition, a small 4.9% increase in average sales price led to a 19.7% rise in total sales dollar volume when compared to last year. During Q1, Pebble Beach saw a surge in the entry market, experiencing 15 home sales under $3M. While Carmel-by-the-Sea was a bit slower than usual in Q1, the Carmel Highlands area saw four strong sales during the quarter and added eleven active listings. Though higher-priced homes across the market continued to sell slower than usual in Q1, during the first few days of April our company represented three sides on two amazing sales in Carmel. One sale just off Scenic Road sold for $13M and another on the beach in Carmel sold for $17.5M. Each of the nine markets we serve goes through a constant balancing act between supply, demand and pricing. This makes it essential to have experienced, local, expert representation when buying or selling a home.

It was a great holiday season on the Monterey Peninsula with locals, second homeowners, and visitors enjoying the beautiful landscapes, inspiring outdoor activities, and bustling restaurants and shops our area has to offer. The Monterey Peninsula real estate market experienced a strong and resilient performance in 2024, demonstrating overall health despite a notable slowdown at key price points of the business. Throughout the year, and certainly closer to the Q4 presidential election, the market experienced a slowing of both inventory and demand. This clearly had an impact on the number of sales to end the year, but even with this influence, the overall market saw an 8.4% increase in home sales year over year and a small increase in average sales price, leading to a 9.7% rise in total sales dollar volume in 2024 over 2023.

As the Monterey Peninsula's Indian summer brings sunshine and warmer temperatures across the region, the real estate market is also experiencing an enjoyable period. After a spike in activity during the second quarter, the market experienced another well-performing quarter during Q3. This means we have seen six consecutive months of good activity and sales volume in our market, following a slower sales cycle over the prior 18 months. In addition, there is also promise for a third strong quarter ahead as September saw 115 homes go into escrow, the most of any month since May 2022. Inventory also closed the quarter with 379 active listings, over one hundred more than the same time last year.

In the second quarter of the year, we saw the number of sales increase, sales volume increase, average sale prices increase, inventory increase and days on market decrease. Clearly, in this quarter the rain clouds lifted from above the Monterey Peninsula and so did the slow start to the year. Looking back at Q1, January and February gave some of the quietest months we have seen in years. March started a measurable recovery in both new listings and sales. This surge continued throughout the second quarter across the entire Peninsula resulting in three of the busiest months in real estate over the last two years.

Much like the close of 2023, the Monterey Peninsula's real estate market had a sleepy start to 2024. The typical rainy and windy weather conditions throughout the opening months of the year paired with continued economic pressure on both the entry level and luxury ends of the market led to a slow first two months of the year. Luckily, as we moved into March, we felt a surge of activity. After 91 new listings in January and 98 more in February, March saw 152 new listings come to market. This was the highest number of new listings we have seen come on the market in one calendar month since June of 2022.

The Monterey Peninsula was bustling this holiday season. Town was busy, shops and restaurants were full, and the outdoor lifestyle was in full swing for both the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday weeks. The rest of the quarter was a bit quieter, as was the real estate market. Across the entire Peninsula, Q4 was down just slightly from the same quarter last year. For the entire year, 2023 experienced a meaningful reduction in the number of homes sold and in total dollar volume compared to 2022.

The Monterey Peninsula had a busy summer beginning with the first ever US Women's Open in July and continuing through a very successful Concours d'Elegance in August. Over the last three months, the streets have been bustling, shops busy and restaurants flourishing. Demand for real estate remained high and while inventory has improved a bit, the number of available homes for sale on the Peninsula is still well below pre-Covid levels.

The Monterey Peninsula experienced a strong rebound in the second quarter of 2023 after almost nine months of slow activity. Beginning in Q4 of last year, transaction and dollar volumes in most markets across the Peninsula were down over 50% year over year. However, in this second quarter of 2023 we saw the amount of sales increase by 25.7% and the total sales volume was up 29.3% in comparison to the first quarter of this year.

Affected by numerous external drivers, the Monterey Peninsula Real Estate market experienced a 5.5% reduction in transactions from Q4 of 2022 and a 36% reduction from the same quarter last year. The storms in Q1 delivered excessive rain, wind, flooding, and power outages throughout much of the area which made it very difficult to even show property. On a positive note, with extremely tight inventory, values have held up well across the Peninsula and continue to outperform the national market.

Following two years of extraordinary growth, the real estate market on the Monterey Peninsula has normalized. The number of transactions, total dollar volume and average sale prices all hit record highs beginning in the second half of 2020 and continuing into the first half of 2022. Beginning in the summer of 2022, the number of transactions and total sales dollar volume has returned for the most part to pre-COVID levels. home values on the Peninsula are holding up nicely, greatly outperforming most markets across the country.

You have heard it said that we live in a bubble here on the Monterey Peninsula. That bubble has protected us and softened many of the global and national disruptions that have so adversely affected other areas. This phenomenon is holding true as it relates to the real estate market as well.

Real estate markets across the country are cooling down after two years of pandemic related growth. After almost eight quarters of extraordinary growth Monterey Peninsula Real Estate is also showing signs of “Normalizing.” Demand for living in this region remains extremely high and continues to outpace supply. For Q2 of 2022 the average sale price across the Peninsula was $1,922k, slightly ahead of the average sale price at this time last year.

After a record-breaking year in 2021, Real Estate Sales activity on the Monterey Peninsula continued to deliver strong results in the first quarter of 2022. The Monterey Peninsula overall saw transaction volume decrease 27% due to less inventory for sale. However, continued strong demand drove average sale prices higher and the mix of higher priced home sales also increased. This contributed to strong quarterly sales dollar volume in Q1, 2022 that was 7% higher than Q1 of last year and just 12% lower than Q4.

After a record-breaking year in Real Estate Sales activity on the Monterey Peninsula in 2020, many were concerned about how the market would perform in 2021. Extremely strong demand throughout all four quarters of 2021 kept volume levels and prices high, contributing to a record-breaking year. Total volume in 2021 across the Peninsula increased 25% over 2020 reaching just over $3.25B.

The Monterey Peninsula is one of the most beautiful places on earth. With “home” continuing to be more important than ever, demand for housing in this area remains very high. All of the reasons families have decided to relocate from urban markets to this area remain. At the same time the frenzy levels of 2020 have started to subside.

Market demand for houses across The Peninsula remained very strong in the second quarter of 2021. Current indications are that the 2021 calendar year volume levels will stay at exceedingly high levels. There were 477 sales in the nine markets we cover across The Peninsula representing a total volume of $932M in sales.

The Monterey Peninsula had a very strong first quarter in 2021. The total number of sales and total volume increased over the previous Q1 in almost all of the 9 markets we track. By June and throughout the rest of the year, the market was setting record highs in units sold, total sales volume, and average selling price.

Like most industries, the real estate market was significantly impacted by the global COVID pandemic. When the order was lifted for essential services in May, the local real estate market experienced a major surge in business. All of the 9 markets we track experienced a significant increase in demand due to buyers rushing to our market.

The 3rd quarter of 2020 has turned out to be one of the busiest quarters in our market's history. Demand across all 5 markets we track has been extraordinary.

An analytic review highlights the impact the Covid-19 pandemic had on our market. After bottoming out in May, business on the Peninsula began to rebound and continues to recover.

After a strong finish to 2019, Monterey Peninsula was off to a healthy Q1 2020 until we experienced the drastic change with the Shelter-In-Place on March 17, 2020.