The number of new escrows in Manhattan Beach real estate since June 1 has skyrocketed in comparison to the same period over the last eight years, according to local real estate blog Manhattan Beach Confidential. 

The past two weeks (June 1-15) saw 30 new escrows, double the number for the same period in 2019, and the highest of the past 8 years.

"It's quite a turnabout from all the recent biweekly periods with historic lows for sales activity," said Dave Fratello, broker at Edge Real Estate Agency and author of Manhattan Beach Confidential. 

Fratello added that this leap in activity was possibly foreshadowed by late-May sales, the first "normal" period in Manhattan Beach since the COVID-19 pandemic began impacting local real estate.

As MB Confidential noted at the time, 21 new deals for late May was "as busy or busier" than 4 of the prior 5 years.

But June 1-15 of 2020 smashed the pace common for this time of year.

Also worth noting: Inventory is down, a likely side effect of the rapid action in June.

There are now 15 fewer listings as of June 15 compared to May 31. This is despite a steady flow of new listings coming out to try to meet the newly active demand from buyers.

"All those sluggish weeks during the stay-at-home orders we were watching a historically low sales pace, anticipating what it would look like when things turned around," said Fratello. "We're in that moment now."

For the period ending 6/15/20 in Manhattan Beach there were:

> 112 active listings as of 6/15/20 (-15 from 5/31/20) 

> 88 SFRs (-11)

> 24 THs (-4)

For more detail, see the Inventory list as of 6/15/20 here, or see the MB Dashboard for up-to-the-minute data.

For questions or further information on buying or selling, contact Dave Fratello.