February 2007 Marin Real Estate News

MARIN HOME SALES STATISTICS

These statistics show how many homes are available for sale in Marin, and of those how many are currently in contract (either pending or contingent. For the 5th month in a row, the Marin overall real estate market is in a “Buyers Market.”

There are just over 100 more Marin homes for sale this February (893) then there were in February 2006 (782). The percentage of homes in contract went substantially (29.34% as compared to last month (23.89%). It is almost a Balanced Market (30%) and is fairly close to that of a year ago, when 34% of available Marin homes were in contract. As I predicted in last month’s newsletter the market seems to be more active, and other agents have confirmed this to me.

I believe that the market is going to continue to heat up. I think because interest rates have stabilized and the talk of the housing bubble has cooled down a bit that there is some pent up demand for homes (at least in Marin County). I think that there is again some pent up demand from last year when the market seemed to be unstable. However, interest rates are higher than they were a year ago, and this seems to have greatly affected the lowest end of the market (homes under $500,000) are in a strong Buyers Market. Again, this is just my $.02. I’d love to hear your thoughts!

The overall Marin Real Estate market is in a “Buyers” market, where almost 29% of all listed homes are in contract, there are some interesting facts to note: Greenbrae is in an Extreme Sellers market – this means: If you are looking to buy a Greenbrae home, don’t be expecting any “bargains”, and if you are looking to sell a Greenbrae home, this is the time! Corte Madera, Fairfax, Mill valley and for the first time in a while, San Anselmo are all in Sellers Markets!! This is really big news. Ross, on the other hand is in a Strong Buyers Market.

As far as price range break-down: as I mentioned earlier, the homes priced under $500,000 (are there any in marin?) are in a Strong Buyers market. The Sellers market homes priced from $500K to $750K. Homes priced from $750,000 to $1M are in a Balanced market, and Homes priced from $1M to $4M are in a Buyers Market.

To view the chart for this month: February Mari Home Sales Stats

2006 Year in Review
After a year of media headlines shouting “The Bubble is about to burst”, “Home prices being slashed,” and so on, I was surprised to discover that as 2006 has come to a close the Median Marin home price WENT UP in 2006. (Not a lot, but it did go up a very small amount (down slightly for single family homes and up slightly for condos). These are just my informal statistics, pulling data from our local MLS system (BAREIS). But I showed that in 2005, the Median home price (including Condos and Single Family Residences) was $850,000 and for 2006 it is $864,000.

I created charts for 2006 showing the average and median Marin home prices with Condos broken out from Single Family Residences. To view these charts, go to: 2006 Marin Real Estate Stats and click on the charts titled: Marin County Average and Median Home Prices. Additionally, I’ve included link to additional charts with average home prices broken down by city and by month. There is a lot of good data here for you to review in your spare time!

Now that 2007 is here, I was surprised to see a lot of Marin Real Estate activity already. I had some clients put an offer in on a well priced $1,000,000 home this week, and we competed against 8 offers!! Yes 8 offers! As I’ve always mentioned, there seems to be a continued shortage of well-priced homes in Marin, especially in areas like Mill Valley that has so much to offer. Additionally, at an open house I held open this last weekend, I had over 25 groups of buyers through to view the $1.4 Million dollar property.

And for those of you who do read these stats, I’d love to know that you find the information useful! It actually takes me quite a lot of time to track, compile and post the data each month – and I’d love to know that it is being utilized! Send me an email to let me know you like getting it!

I’m always searching for ways to bring my clients and readers more local real estate statistics. I’m pleased to announce the launch of my new Marin home Sales Statistics page. To view, go to: Marin Real Estate Statistics.

If you know of anyone who would like to receive this monthly newsletter or is thinking of either buying or selling a home please let me know. I’d love your referrals!