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San Mateo Housing Market on the Rise!

Mar 30th, 2010
by Kathy Rain.
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It seems that California has weathered the real estate market storms are beginning to see growth!  The San Mateo Coastal area is no different and has seen an increase in home median prices and sales.  According to a recent study from MDA Data Quick, statewide median home prices rose 11% in February and total sales were up 8%.  It is apparent that we are on the upswing of the last year or so of economic recession.

According to First American Core Logic statisticians, the next 12 months will bring about a gain of 4.5% in home prices. Last month alone, an estimated 28,111 new and resale houses and condos were sold in California, which rose 9% from January sales.  The average mortgage payment last month was $1,068.

The below chart shows the growth in Median Home Sale Prices from 2009 to 2010 San Mateo Coastal Real Estate market.

It’s exciting time in the San Mateo Coastal area as we are seeing new homes coming on the market and are seeing properties sold!  If you are looking for a home in this desirable Coastal region, we’d love to assist you in your search.  We currently have some great properties available which we would be happy to show you!  Looking to sell?  We can help you through the process from start to finish!  We look forward to hearing from you!

Kathy & Michael Rain
Your San Mateo Coastal Real Estate Experts

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Bay Area’s High-End Housing Market Gaining Momentum by Rick Turley

Mar 21st, 2010
by Kathy Rain.
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Along with the beautiful early spring weather, the Bay Area’s housing market is gradually starting to warm up, too. We’re off to a much more robust and healthy start this year, and it’s not just in the lower price ranges. The mid-to-upper level market is picking up from Silicon Valley through the Peninsula and up through Marin and across to parts of the East Bay.

As I mentioned in an interview with the San Jose Mercury yesterday, after the financial market meltdown a year ago, high-end home sales dried up during the first half of 2009. Compared to those days, homes sales in higher price ranges are much more active now, pushing up median prices around the Bay. And with relatively few homes on the market in Silicon Valley and on the Peninsula, prices have stabilized and buyers are now competing for good listings.

Half of the sales reported by our Los Altos office drew multiple offers, for example.  One Sunnyvale home listed at $950,000 drew 12 offers and sold for more than $1 million. In Palo Alto, we’re seeing eight to 10 multiple offers for properties that are well-priced.  The San Francisco Van Ness office says some well-priced high-end listings are selling in 10-15 days. The same story is being told in Menlo Park, Southern Marin, Orinda – in fact, most of the Bay Area’s higher-end markets.

We just released our Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage Luxury Report this week, and it shows million-dollar home sales in Marin nearly tripled last month from a year ago, while the median sale price jumped 25 percent.  The same was true in Silicon Valley, where luxury sales nearly doubled as the median price edge higher.

Now don’t get me wrong. While we’re seeing a promising recovery in many of our markets, we’re still fighting our way back to normalcy. The nation’s economy recovery is still very fragile. And the housing market’s gradual improvement must be sustained over time in the face of a challenged job market.  But the signs are encouraging that all sectors of our local housing market are slowly coming to life again.

Here’s a market-by-market report from our local offices:

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Sellers Now Have a Short Window of Opportunity

Jan 31st, 2010
by Kathy Rain.
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Super Bowl Sunday can’t come fast enough for the real estate market.  Historically, this is when the floodgates open and sellers start putting their homes on the market.  Good news for Buyers but not as good for Sellers.  Read what is happening in the Bay Area below.

“What’s happening? First-time buyers are rushing to take advantage of the federal tax credit before it expires this spring. Unfortunately, we aren’t seeing a commensurate number of sellers bringing homes to the market to capitalize on this. There are inventory shortages throughout the Bay Area. Open homes are attracting a flood of serious buyers. The result is that attractive, well-priced homes in good neighborhoods are getting lots of interest and, in some cases, multiple offers. 

Without as much competition for buyer’s attention, a well-maintained home could stand out like a redwood tree in a desert. This may not last for long as more homes come on the market in the weeks and months ahead (don’t forget the old adage that people start listing homes after the Super Bowl).

So by and large, it’s pretty much a conversation about inventory when you talk about our Bay Area real estate market.  Even the luxury market, while admittedly slower than lower price points, has inventories trending down.  Take San Francisco, for example, for homes over $2 million.  The luxury market finished out December 2009 with a 6 months supply of inventory – compared to 10 months supply for the same period in 2008.  You’ll find similar trends in the high end in many of our communities in Silicon Valley, Peninsula, Marin, and the East Bay.  Accuracy in pricing and attention to detail in showing condition remains critical in the luxury markets, but sales activity is picking up and inventories are going down.”  by Rick Turley, President, Coldwell Banker San Francisco Bay Area

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