How high can inventory go? We're publishing this story today just so you know it's no April Fool's joke: Manhattan Beach real estate inventory has hit a five-year high of 101 homes as of Thursday morning, according to Manhattan Beach Confidential.

It's the first time in more than 50 months – since late 2011 – that buyers have had 100 or more choices.

To put this in context, according to MB Confidential:

• This is 66% more inventory than buyers saw last year at this time, when there were 61 homes for sale in all of Manhattan Beach.

• This is double the inventory at the end of March 2014.

• This is far more than in 2013, the first year of a chronic inventory crunch, when there were 42 listings at this time of year – a figure that dropped throughout April before rebounding.

Why is inventory so high? MB Confidential notes that the number of closed sales on a 3-month timeframe is down 10% from last year, while on a 6-month timeframe, it's down 20%.

Additionally, for all of 2015, Manhattan Beach saw fewer real estate sales – about a 14% drop year-over-year – yet the median home price nevertheless rose by 8%. (Two places to look back at the data are "Inventory Higher in 2015; Prices, Too" and "Sales Down, Prices Up So Far in 2015.")

So what's ahead for buyers and sellers? The fundamentals are still good for buying Manhattan Beach real estate, according to MB Confidential, but change may be headed our way.

For more information, and to keep up to the latest Manhattan Beach real estate news and trends, visit MB Confidential.