Last week Millbrae had 50 houses for sale. They were on the market for an average of 68 days, and the number of homes coming to the market appears to be moving upward. Prices are trending downward, yet most homes inMillbrae are selling for over a Million dollars today. A far cry from how this city of about 20,000 use to be, where modest homes housed families of modest means. Not today. The median price last week was $1,087,500. Millbrae is considered a flat Cold! Buyer's market.
The residential housing market is a great example of supply side economics with the supply and demand, and market conditions determining price. Altos Research calculates the Market Action Index by measuring available supply relative to the current level of demand. Index value above 30 indicates conditions favor the seller. Sitting at 18,Millbrae is very much favoring the Buyer. Yet the seller hasn't figured that out as they're still pricing homes high. Altos Research also feels that the current pricing conditions are relatively fragile. If the market cools off further, watch for prices coming down.
Price and Value can be measured by looking at the Price per Square Foot. Despite the fact that home prices are rising fairly consistently, the price per square foot of homes listed in Millbrae is declining. This can often be attributed to new and remodeled homes on the market. Buyers in the area are paying more but also getting more for their money.
Another reason Millbrae is staying up in price has to do with the schools. Mills High School has become a magnet for buyers from San Francisco. Mills is part of the San Mateo Union High School District and consistently has high test scores.
Millbrae's homes are about 59 years old, mostly built post WWII. They're mostly 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms and about 1600 square feet in size. The average lot is 5000 feet. They're pretty much like the other Peninsula cities I write about. If you'd like more information about Millbrae's real estate market, let me know. I can get you a copy of the full report we subscribe to from Altos Research.
In March of this year, over 200 San Mateo County residents met at Canada College to talk about the high cost of housing in our county. They were selected by random telephone calls. This month is your chance to sound off and voice your thoughts, concerns and comments about this issue. And someone will be listening!
The elected officials throughout San Mateo County will be listening to your comments and and you can make them without leaving the comforts of your home right in front of your computer.
Threshold 2008 Online Dialogue is open to anyone who lives or works in San Mateo County, or wants to, and your opinions are really wanted. What do you think about the high cost of housing in our county? How's your quality of life? Are you house poor? Do you live in a too small house with your family squeezed together? Do you wish you could buy a condo or a house rather than rent? Want to stop commuting but can't afford to buy here? Sound off! Someone will be listening and very aware of your concerns and complaints.
Register now at www.threshold2008.org and be heard. Really! Be heard from May 5 through 16th.
San Mateo County has a shortage of affordable housing for our citizens. People vital to the heartbeat of our county, the firemen, police, nurses, teachers, and like, are forced to commute long distances from affordable housing to their jobs here in our county. We know that by 2025, the county will add 71,000 new households and 133,300 new jobs. The current new housing planned will not serve these needs.
Are you concerned? Sign up to participate in this online dialogue called "Public Voices for Housing Choices". You can also sign up at www.public-voices.org. This is the second phase of the countywide assembly and Threshold 2008 is building on the success and energy of the debate. You will get to post your comments online about this critical issue for the continued benefit of our county and its citizens. You will be able to ask questions of our county officials and of housing professionals. You will hopefully help to change this for all of us.
What are you waiting for? Sign up right now! If you elect not to sign up, you can still follow the discussion online.
Tuesday is our Broker Tour Day. We get a list of all new listings available for us to see on Tuesday by late afternoon on Monday. Belmont, generally one of the hidden gems in our Fantasy Island had 10 homes over $1 Million Dollars today. Belmont had a total of 14 new properties on tour. That's saying something.
Altos Research sent me their latest data yesterday. Last week the average priced home in Belmont was $1,085,968 and the median priced home was $999,000. Bet that changes next week. Only 3 properties sold and 1/3 of the listings had price reductions. Altos tells me that Belmont is a Cold!Buyers Market. You'd never know it looking at how prices have risen and inventory has climbed since the first of the year.
Here's what's telling me that we might be past the bottom of the early 2008 market. Here's the Market Action Index. The Market Action Index illustrates the balance between supply and demand using a statistical function of the current rate of sale versus current inventory.
See the little curve upward at the end of the downward line? That's the first indicator that things have changed. What happens next week, and again the following week will tell us more, but something is going on in Belmont. Generally when the bottom end of a market improves that's a signal that the rest of the market is strengthening. This is something I'll be watching and reporting back about.
The price of single family homes is a function of supply and demand. It's simple economics at its best. While Belmont is still a strong buyer's market prices for new listings are coming to market at much higher prices than one would expect to see in a cold buyer's market. So what gives?
Inventory levels have been relatively consistent to sales but my bet is those new houses coming to market at these high prices may not sustain those prices for long. I bet we'll see a lot of price reductions unless all of the buyers out there, waiting and waiting for something to happen, decide to make offers.
We subscribe to Altos Research for all seven of the cities we cover. If you want detailed information about your town, let me know.
I haven't done a Market Update for Foster City in a while. Foster City is a planned community, in fact it was the first one done in California. What that means is there are areas with Apartments, Condos, Townhouses and Single Family homes sprinkled around the city. Each group of housing finds some properties on the waterfront, next to parks or within a more neighborhood setting giving loads of choices for prospective residents.
Altos Research breaks down their research two ways for me. One report features single family homes, and the other condos and townhouses. The price spread for the condos is very wide with one complex averaging over $1 million per unit. Homes on the water
Today, San Mateo County achieved something that has never been done anywhere in the US, thanks to Threshold2008's Assembly of residents talking about San Mateo County's housing needs. Threshold2008 brought together the dialogue and range of voices that only the general public can bring to the government and housing officials in the 20 cities representing our County. Through the generous donations of the Open Square Foundation, The David & Lucielle Packard Foundation, Silicon Valley Community Foundation and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, plus Bailard Inc., Common sense California, County of San Mateo, Hurlburt-Johnson Fund, Mills-Peninsula Health Services, Palo Alto Medical Foundation, San Mateo County Community College Foundation and The Whitman Institute, 400 people representing a microcosm of the residents of the County met, learned about, and discussed housing issues facing the County, now and in the future.
Taking place at Canada College in Redwood City, I had the opportunity to listen to the majority of break out sessions taking place during the two days. People
This CA native likes nothing better than to assist people in buying and selling their property. The San Francisco Peninsula is one of the nicest places on this earth to live and share. DRE#01343201
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