Kyle Frazier with Christie's Great Estates -- Morgan Lane Marin in Kentfield has earned the certification from The Institute of Luxury Home Marketing. Kyle is the only agent in Marin County California to hold both that designation and the Certified Residential Specialist designation.
Call Kyle for counseling and marketing services relating to your luxury home needs in Marin County.
Kyle Frazier, CRS
Christie's Great Estates -- Morgan Lane Marin
Kentfield, California
(415) 350-9440
Kyle@ImagineMarin.com
Marin County, California real estate held steady, for the most part, through Summer 2009. While year over year prices are down across the board no matter how you slice it, many feel as though absent further crisis, we may be nearing the end of the downward cycle — after a full 3 years. Certainly, well priced, updated homes in great locations are selling promptly. In Northern Marin (a.k.a Novato), 81% of homes priced under $500,000 are in escrow (that’s 39 out of 48 homes!). In San Rafael, 64% of homes priced at or below $600,000 are in escrow. These astonishing sales numbers are propelled by value / affordability, the $8,000 tax credit, and the increased FHA loan limits which went into effect in April 2009. Meanwhile, the higher price bands look a little different. [Click HERE for the rest of the article, courtesy of www.NorthBayRE.com].
Earlier this month marked the one-year anniversary of the beginning of the equities market meltdown, which profoundly impacted Marin County, California’s luxury real estate market. In our New Economy, real buyers have become less numerous and have placed increased emphasis on prestige locations, views, lifestyle amenities (usable yards, proximity to clubs/shopping, etc.), schools, and sensible scale. [Click HERE for the rest of the article, courtesy of www.ImagineMarin.com.] If you would like a hyper-local report relating to any town or zip code in Marin or San Francisco, call me at (415) 350-9440.As reported all year, the luxury segment remains weighted towards homes priced under $4 million — while we had 3 sales of homes priced over $4 million in July 2009, yet August 2009 saw just 1 sale in this affluent price band. Among the sales last month, was a $5.1 million trade in Belvedere (an amazing home on a double lot on the Belvedere Lagoon) and an off-market $8 million Kentfield (both buyers and sellers were represented by my company). The reasons for the slowdown in sales is no mystery, so too are the reasons we will eventually return to normalcy. First and foremost, the economy must give reason for optimism and the stock market must continue to win back gains lost over the past year. Once some of those gains are recaptured, affluent buyers will feel more comfortable with major purchases again. And it looks like we are heading in that direction — last week, Ben Bernanke noted that the recession is likely over and the Wall Street Journal (a media source which is not-so-subtly slanted against real estate investment) noted that real estate “has rarely looked better” — click HERE for article. Also, for a detailed snapshot of current national trends from the Institute for Luxury Home Marketing dated September 13, 2009, click HERE.
Tiburon and Belvedere, California real estate is some of the most valuable in the Bay Area — Belvedere had a closing at $5.1 million in August 2009. Perhaps because of this, sales and activity remain choppy, despite the favorable market environment for buyers. In fact, even the "anti-real estate" Wall Street Journal recently noted that the real estate market "has rarely looked better" click HERE for article. There are currently 113 active listings in the 94920 zip code, which covers Tiburon and Belvedere (up by about 10 properties from last month). Twenty of these properties are priced over $5 million. While last month’s report noted increasing activity, it appears we are back to baseline experienced in the first quarter of 2009. There were just 8 sales in August 2009 and 6 of these were under $1 million. There are currently 29 active properties listed for sale under $2 million in Tiburon and Belvedere — 7 additional homes are in escrow. [Click HERE for the rest of the article, courtesy of www.NorthBayRE.com].
The Mill Valley, CA. real estate market fulfilled low expectations in August 2009 with 22 sales — same as in July 2009. It has become apparent over the past several months that asking prices have largely halted their downward spiral. As is evident in the graph below, which tracks the median price per square foot (down from $740 to $612), in Mid-June prices flattened out in Mill Valley and have more or less remained stable. It will be interesting to see whether this flattening out carries over into the sales prices of homes trading this Fall and Winter.
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Marin County, Ca. sits just north of San Francisco and features some of the best cities in the Bay Area. Call on me with any of your real estate needs. It is my pleasure to be of service.
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