Last weeks Real Estate news around the Bay Area
- East Bay—It seems the after Labor Day spike is working its magic in the East Bay these days. Castro Valley is reporting that open houses are well-attended and that buyers are coming out of the woodwork. Danville also has its fair share of good news noting that inventory is decreasing for the second week in a row and they are now down to a 4.4 month supply. Fremont is feeling the benefits of the REO market with a lot of activity in the entry level. Buyers seem to have a lot of interest in REOs and the potential bargains they hope to gain. Oakland is pleased to be seeing some good, quality listings on the market after a several-week slump in good inventory. I think we all anticipate that September and October will bring a much needed spike in sales to the East Bay.
- Monterey County—We’ve been seeing an increase of new escrows in the last few weeks, in price ranges across the board.
- North Bay—We are seeing spotty activity with well-staged, well-priced homes winning the prize of a sale. In Marin, under $800,000 is looking good, $800,000 to $1.4 million is quiet, $2 million range is slower and $3 million plus is solid. If we had more upper end listings, we’d sell them! Our San Rafael office is reporting that we are seeing a lot of activity in the entry level in Novato and San Rafael. Multiple offers are back and 80% of the San Rafael office’s deals this week are REO and/or short sales. The Marin Association of Realtors this week reported an incredible 57% increase in homes under contract from August 08 to August 07. A great sign of good things to come! For neighboring Sonoma County, action remains brisk below $500,000 with REOs commonplace throughout the entire county.
- Peninsula—Our Half Moon Bay friends are singing the tune of new listings. Traditionally they have just about 110 listings on the market on the coast. Currently they have 148 which means better, more quality choices for buyers. The high-end market of the Peninsula seems to be moving well. Menlo Park is reporting that they had both a $3 million and a $5 million sale this week. Palo Alto continues to be plagued by lower inventory but is noting that though the inventory is low, buyers are looking for the right property that is priced well. Unless a home is priced well and shows well, even in a market that has limited inventory, it will sit. Buyers want value no matter what market you’re in. Our Redwood City office saw the first signs of the Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae takeover noting, “Slow week though buyers who were on the fence are now deciding to purchase with the government takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.”
- San Francisco—Our anticipated post Labor Day serge is coming to fruition in the City! We had a total of nine multiple offers amongst our five San Francisco offices this week. Our Market Street office noted, “Of the three multiple offers we had, one property had not even reached the open market. We had 10 new listings come on the market this week ranging from a condo at $499,000 to units at just under $3 million.” Our Lombard office saw a big post Labor Day week, too, noting that one sale was pre-emptive for 15% over in the $2 million range. The Van Ness and Noriega offices have yet to see the post Labor Day bounce but are confident they, too, will soon feel it. Van Ness continues to report success in the upper-end.
- Santa Cruz County—Most of the sales activity continues to be in the entry level market. REO sales are largely in South County and scattered throughout other areas in the remainder of the county. All of this is having an impact on prices. There are some great deals in Santa Cruz County right now. The upper end of the market continues to lag with a surplus of inventory and few sales.
- Silicon Valley—As our Cupertino office points out, “Lots of enthusiasm! Let’s hope it translates into transactions!” We’re definitely seeing increased buyer interest right now. Pendings are up 121% over this time last year and inventory is down. But buyers are still cautious and slow to make offers. Our Los Altos San Antonio office points out that “Activity was way up from last week. Buyers seem to be out in full force at our open homes.” Our Saratoga office concurs, despite what they thought was going to be a slow week. “Although sales have been decreasing,” said Saratoga Manager Pat McKeany, “we experienced a spike in sales yesterday with nine being processed. Hopefully this is a sign of improvement. Additionally we had 10 offers on a well-priced Saratoga home.”
- South County—Continued to be driven by REOs, sales in the South County market have been steady over the last week. In many cases, REOs continue to generate a lot of buyer interest and often result in multiple offers. Sellers in this market seem to be getting the idea and we are starting to see some welcome price adjustments.
