Hello Everyone,
The Marin County Real Estate Market is Hot,
Hot, Hot! Attractive new listings are flying off the shelf, often in
their first week on the market, and, not infrequently, with multiple
offers --sometimes going substantially over asking price. Sellers----can
you count on this? Not necessarily. But if your listing is well
prepared, priced, presented, and marketed, don't be surprised if it does
happen.
What is going on here?
The current supply of
housing inventory for sale is extremely low--- only 3.1 months for
Single Family Residences (SFR) and 2.9 months for Condo's. In both
cases, this is more than 50% below the available inventory in April of
2011. Year-to-date numbers of homes sold are up as well, in spite of low
inventory---running nearly 16% ahead of April '11 for SFR's and more
than 19% for condo's.
Of 1222 SFR and Condo properties listed for
sale on the MLS on May 20, 564 were in contract, or 46%.In Novato, the
number is even higher, with 165 of 266, or 62%. But in Belvedere, only 8
of 25 listed properties, 32%, were in contract on May 20.
What
this tells us is not necessarily that buyers prefer Novato over
Belvedere. Looking County-wide at SFR's and condo's under $1million, we
find 58% in contract, while only 15.8% of over-$3million listings were
in contract.
There is a message here for Sellers. A
large portion of the market has turned.For would-be sellers, this may be
the best opportunity in several years, with ultra-low interest rates
and frustrated buyers out in droves snapping up everything in sight,
especially in the "lower" end of the market. DataQuick, the La Jolla,
California-based real estate news service, said, in an article dated May 17 "Bay Area home sales increased last month to their highest level for an April
since 2006---".
Buyers: If you are looking for
property in one of the most popular price ranges and locations, keep
working on it---success is possible and may be just around the corner!
Remember, your REALTOR is a great resource. If, however, you are looking
for a $2 or $3million property, you may just still have a window of
opportunity. Don't wait too long though!
More next time.
Until then, best wishes to all,
Fred
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
