The big news in San Rafael real estate this past month revolved around the sale of Carlos Santana’s 1.7 acre, 7,000 square foot estate, which sold for $4.185 million after a short two weeks on the market. Congratulations Carlos! Meanwhile, San Rafael listing prices experienced a brief rise earlier this Summer, but have again begun a downward shift over the past few weeks. By comparison, asking prices in Novato have been rising for several months, leading many to beleive that the bottom has formed in Novato. It does not appear this phenomenon is being replicated in San Rafael. [Click HERE for the rest of this article, courtesy of www.SanRafael101.com.]
Last month, for the first time since I began writing Novato monthly updates back in 2006, I stated that it appears that the Novato, CA. market (for single family homes) seems to be improving in two meaningful ways. Certainly, sales have risen from last year and we have several months of increasing sales (as the inventory of short sales and foreclosures is quickly snapped up by motivated buyers). But, perhaps even more importantly from the perspective of home owners, it also appears that prices at the entry level (e.g., properties priced below $500,000) have bottomed out. As evidenced by the chart below,the 90-day rolling average of Novato home prices has been rising since May 2009. Obviously, higher asking prices do not, ipso facto, result in higher sales prices (some local real estate companies train their agents to give sellers high estimated sales prices in an effort to get any all listings — a major breach of our ethical and fiduciary obligations, in my opinion). But, experts consider this development a leading indicator that market forces are pushing prices higher. I have written in past months about the high level of competition in Novato’s entry level real estate market. This phenomenon also supports the notion that we have hit bottom. [Click HERE for the rest of this article, courtesy of www.Novato101.com.]
Marin County, CA’s luxury real estate market segment is slow and remains weighted towards homes priced under $4 million — just one home priced over $4 million sold in June 2009 and it was an off-the-market sale. The number of sales in June 2009 is off by over 40% from June 2008, yet the average price of sold homes is down just 3% from last year. In Marin, only the homes with special locations, views, or features seem to be getting significant attention. For a detailed snapshot of current national trends from the Institute for Luxury Home Marketing dated July 19, 2009,click here. Note, if you would like a local report relating to any town or zip code in Marin or San Francisco, call me at (415) 350-9440. Yet, the news relating to home starts and permit applications is again improved this month. As earnings reports come in for Q2 and the stock market has found some hope in the numbers, it does not appear that such developments consitute the siren call buyers seek. As noted last month, buyers remain dubious of price stability for good reason. But, increased conforming loan limits and a pronounced level of increased affordability across the board should help sales moving forward into the Summer as buyers with 25% down will obtain top-shelf financing for purchases of $1.6 million. While not “Luxury” territory here in Marin, a sizable segment of buyers of luxury homes must sell their current homes first (80% of buyers are sellers). The chart below indicates that across the trend in Marin’s luxury segment is for lower prices — 10% to 28% lower than last year in Mill Valley, Belvedere, and Kentfield. The year over year inventory levels in Mill Valley have hovered at around 20% for the past couple of months. Meanwhile, inventory in Kentfield has rocketed to 60% higher than last year. Belvedere is 75% higher than last year. Prediction: Kentfield and Belvedere prices will continue to recede markedly through Q4 2009. Indeed, we can see that trend has set in dramatically in the above chart. Despite the apparent slowdown, open houses have been extremely busy. Offers are being written. And our agents are noting a more focused approach by buyers. One listing in our office, priced at over $10 million went into escrow last week after just 3 days on the market. We are also starting to see buyers lose out on properties they loved because they assumed there was no urgency in writing an offer. [Click HERE for the rest of the report, courtesy of www.ImagineMarin.com.]
The Marin County, CA real estate market is a mixed bag. This increase in activity (not price appreciation) follows the slowest six month stretch we have seen in sixteen years. Closings of Marin County single family homes in the 4th quarter of 2008 (457) was the lowest since 1994. Closings in 1st quarter 2009 (222) and 2nd quarter ’09 (421) both set the sixteen year low as well. We feel this recent rally is a reflection of increasing consumer confidence either as a result of, or in combination with, the stock market rebound which began in March 2009. And just when Wall Street looked as though significant further downward movement was in the cards (after a month of week over week declines from mid-June to early July), last week’s results erased all losses from the past month as quarlterly earnings reports have been coming in higher than expected. On a year-over-year basis, pricing of single family homes in Marin County is a completely different comparison. Depending on your neighborhood, the value of your home could be off 15% - 50% from its peak. As I have documented in previous newsletters, Marin County real estate was impacted by two financial events. Beginning in August 2007, the northern part of the county (Novato and areas of San Rafael) suffered from the sub-prime lending crisis. The activity level in Central and Southern Marin was nearly frozen from October 2008 thru mid-March 2009 — a result of the stock market meltdown. Today, it appears that our housing recovery will be driven by an increase in units sold. Today’s buyers are driven by value and opportunity. Sellers clinging to what they recently paid for a home or what they "need to sell it for" seem to be grasping at “hope” and have become frustrated in a buyers’ market where days on the market produces diminishing returns. [Click HERE for the rest of the article, courtesy of www.NorthBayRE.com.]
Recent escrow activity levels have been refreshing, if not invigorating. New escrows generated in April – June 2009 represent the three best months since June ’07. This progress seems to be continuing. In fact, we could experience the busiest summer in MarinCounty real estate in recent years.
Consistent with last month, the Tiburon and Belvedere real estate markets remain in a state of semi-slumber pending further clarity regarding the equities and housing markets. There are currently 110 active listings in the 94920 zip code, which covers Belvedere and Tiburon. Twenty-three of these properties are priced over $5 million with just one such home going into escrow in the past 3 months). Meanwhile, there is some limited activity in the lower price bands, including 2 sales in the $2 million to $3 million range. In June 2009, we had 10 sales compared with 7 sales in May 2009 (same as April 2009). Six of last month’s sales were properties priced under $2 million. One interesting observation based on the below graph: not until March of this year did the median asking price for homes in Belvedere dip below that of 2008. Belvedere was the last Marin city to experience that shift (a full 6 months after Tiburon). Over the past several months however, that shift has become more exaggerated as prices begin reflecting market realities. Indeed, there are currently 5 homes for sale in Tiburon under $1 million and another home in Belvedere. Rarely do we see Belvedere homes hit the market under $1 million.
[Click HERE for the rest of the article courtesy of www.NorthBayRE.com.]
 |
|
|
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.
ActiveRain Corp. is not responsible for the accuracy of the site's content (which is written by members of the ActiveRain Real Estate Network) and does not endorse the views of the real estate agents, mortgage brokers, and others listed here.
Powered by the ActiveRain Real Estate Network
© 2009 ActiveRain Corp. All Rights Reserved
