Hello Everyone,
Hard to believe it is almost fall. Where did the summer go?
Dow Jones ended the week down just a bit over 1% after losing over 180 points on Monday and gaining back about half of that on Friday. Investors cautiously dipping their toes back into the market but watching the economic news carefully.
Here in Marin County, the City by City report, out this week shows most cities and towns trading in essentially the same range in August as they did in July. San Anselmo slipped a bit to 17.35% in contract vs. July's 23.4% while Fairfax roared ahead, accelerating from 26.67% all the way to 36.96% in contract. San Rafael and Novato still lead the County in percentage in contract with 34.44% and 49.56% respectively. Yes that is correct, nearly half the listings in Novato were in contract as of September 1!
Single Family Residences overall at 25.61% in contract, down a couple of points since the last report-- basically a balanced market. Homes in the $0-$999K price range at 37% in contract overall, much of this reflected in the previously mentioned Novato and San Rafael markets which weight the averages. Homes over $2million still an attractive opportunity for buyers at 10.92% in contract for $2-$3million homes and 6.31% for homes over $3 million. Accepted offers on SFR's at 291, or 29.4% of inventory vs. last year's 157 or 13.9% of inventory (NRT MarketQuest) ----- shows a much more active market. YTD units sold show continued improvement with 1002 units sold as of Sept. 1 vs. 1119 at the same time last year, or -10.46%. This an increase from -12.5% at last report. Let's see if this continues.
Condo's overall at 42.9% in contract, up over 4 percentage points since the last report. Condo's under $999 K (all but 13 of active listings) doing even better at 44.65%--- either way a strong sellers' market. Multiple offers back but often don't go over listing price or if so not much over. Average sold price of condo's in the County at $369,887 YTD vs $529,076 last year at the same time. As of August 31, accepted offers at 291, or 29.4% of inventory vs. last year's 157 or 13.9% of inventory (NRT MarketQuest) ----- also shows accelerating market activity. But YTD units sold still continuing to lose steam with 300 units sold as of Sept 1 vs. 301 last year, or essentially even. This after having had a substantial lead for most of the prior months.
La Jolla, California-based MDA DataQuick, in an article dated August 21 noted the local real estate market's improved prospects with the headline:
"Bay Area home sales hit 4-year high; median price up again"
The article quotes DataQuick president John Walsh, saying "----we continue to see the market moving gradually back toward a more normal balance of sales across all price ranges. The high end of the market finally has a pulse and that has led to a swift rise in the median sale price. It's the opposite of what we saw two years ago, when the credit crunch slammed the brakes on jumbo lending and sales of more expensive homes screeched to a halt.-------"
Full text of the article available at:
http://www.dqnews.com/Articles/2009/News/California/Bay-Area/RRBay090821.aspx
More next time-----
Until then, have a happy and safe Labor Day Weekend.
Best wishes to all,
Fred
for access to spreadsheets please see http://www.fredanlyan.com
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