 Mitch's Monthly NewsletterThe real estate market in California varies widely from area to area. In the San Francisco Bay Area alone, we have numerous micro markets. The real estate market in Marin is a lot different from the market in San Jose. In Berkeley, the housing market is different from north to south and east to west. Then it changes again in Kensington, El Cerrito, Albany, Richmond and of course, Oakland and Piedmont, and so on. As local Realtors, we rely on far more than statistics to know what’s happening within our local markets. For instance, we gauge the attendance and interest at open houses, we can tell there are more listings coming up when our local home inspectors and stagers start getting busy, we notice changes in supply when our brokers’ tours are longer or shorter and what percentage of the homes are new or repeats. We notice the number of price reductions, the activity on our websites, and of course our own individual business and number of sales. Then, two months later when our hunches have become statistics, we see it all reflected in the sales numbers, days on market, ratio of list price to asking price and number of homes sold with multiple offers. We would like to offer our insider knowledge to you, so that when you are ready to make a move you know what type of market you are in, and how to best position yourself or your property.   The statistics below reflect an improvement from the very tough market almost a year ago. While these statistics are informative, because of the variation in our neighborhoods, we recommend consulting with us to get a true picture of property values in your neighborhood. We are noticing more sales, more optimism, and more traffic at our open houses recently, and also are seeing more multiple offers. In addition, our local stagers and inspectors are currently booking well into the future. By these and other gauges, the market is improving. According to the California Association of Realtors, the state median home price increased year over year in November for the first time since August 2007; sales bottomed out more than 2 years ago; and the median home price reached its trough in February 2009. CAR predicts a 3.3% rise in the median price with a slight decrease in sales this year. Our local market is showing similar statistical improvement. Six months ago, we ran these same numbers, and there has been a marked improvement in almost every area. The market is not back to its peak of 2006, but the last two quarters have seen a definite uptick in sales price and volume. The variation in neighborhood markets has to do with several factors. Schools, price range, “walkability”, safety, commute and intangibles like aesthetics and desirability all affect value. The impact of the recent increase in bank owned sales (REOs) and short sales has been profound. The best way to have an accurate assessment of the market value of your property is to have us provide you with a free market analysis. This involves our visiting your property, researching the age, square footage and other pertinent information from the county records, and then comparing your house with others that have sold in your neighborhood or similar neighborhoods close by. We fine tune the information we get from the comparable sales and statistics with our personal experience, including touring literally dozens of properties a month, following trends, and our experience marketing hundreds of homes every year. We invite you to call us for a personal, confidential, complimentary and comprehensive market analysis. |
