Hello Everyone,
The January 26th issue of the New York Times sports a headline on the first business page that says "Housing Market Shows Signs of a Thaw". They cite the Fed's recent 3/4 of a point rate cut as "the largest single amount on record". And, as you all know, we have had another 1/2 point cut since then. The article includes a graph with the caption reading, in part, "even before the surprise three-quarter-point cut in the fed funds rate, refinancing applications had reached the highest level since March 2004". The article also references the upcoming stimulus package that is expected to boost the conforming loan rate to somewhere between $625,500 and $729,750, an action it said "should make refinancings easier, and---probably encourage sales activity, too", calling this "especially significant in high-priced California". This information is right in line with what we have been saying for some time now. There is still a window of opportunity in the Marin real estate market, and no-one knows how long it will last, but it certainly will not be forever!
The Marin market stats this week show every segment still in buyers' or strong buyers' territory, particularly the condo's, but it is important to note that every category except one (SFR's, $2M-$2.99M) had a gain in percentage in contract. The one category that slipped lost about 1.4% and that was just a matter of a couple of homes out of only about 60 in the entire category. A long way of saying "statistically insignificant due to small sample size".
The opportunity in this market is enormous. I have started to hear again about multiple offers, but for those who have faith in the economy and are willing to brave the wet winter weather, the potential benefits are great. Good luck to all.
More next week. Until then,
Best wishes to all,
Fred
p.s. for access to spreadsheets please visit http://www.fredanlyan.com
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