Novato Real Estate Market Update (July 2008 Home Sales Report)

July 16, 2008

As I have noted in this report for the last couple months, the Northern Marin (e.g., Novato) real estate market is chugging along and exhibiting strong signals in certain price bands. Active listings are abundant. Buyers are focussed and writing offers in the hopes of tapping into the aggressive pricing embraced by sellers. 
 
Indeed, there are several newer homes, under 10 years old, under $800,000 in Hamilton Field. New business arivals at Hamilton Landing are fueling many of these purchases. Moreover, there are 30 homes under $500,000 (up from 22 last month), and 55 homes under $600,000 (up by 1) currently on the market. At the other end of the spectrum, Novato’s resurgent semi-luxury market ($1 million to $1.5 million price range) posted another 5 sales in June 2008 and 3 of Novato’s high-end homes (priced over $1.5 million) sold in June 2008. Overall, roughly 22% of homes on the market in Novato are in escrow. I expect that sales will continue even during the traditionally slower Summer months as pent-up buyer demand and investor activity prop up sales. My listings are seeing plenty of activity.

Thirty-two Novato homes sold in June 2008–up by 4 from May 2008, which saw 28 home sales. These homes averaged about 104 days on market, sold for an average sales price of $819,000 (roughly $363 per sq./ft.), and the average sized home was 2,307 square feet. Homes in Hamilton Field (particularly South Gate and Newport), Rush Creek, Indian Valley, and San Marin continue to get robust numbers of showings and/or interest.

Price Range

Total Homes

Pending Listings

Up to $600K

110

50%

$600K – $750K

 74

31%

$750K – $1 mil.

77

14%

$1 mil. – $1.5 mil.

57

12%

$1.5 mil. & Up

34

5%
For a brief explanation of the importance of the statistic addressing the percentage of “Pending” listings, click HERE. If you would like me to run the exact numbers on your neighborhood, just give me a call at (415) 350-9440. It is my pleasure to be of service.

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Marin Luxury Homes (July 2008)

July 13, 2008

The number of homes for sale in the $2 million to $4 million luxury home market in Marin County, California dipped slightly this month with 121 active listings, compared to 127 homes in June 2008. This reduction in inventory was accompanied by another solid month of sales–26 homes sold (one more than in May 2008). As noted last month, and this bears repeating, while the number of homes sold in the non-luxury market this year compared to last year is down by about 25%-30% (depending on where you look), the luxury market has NOT experienced a similar decline. This is great news for owners of luxury homes in Marin!

Mill Valley and Kentfield led the way with the most luxury home sales (each with 5 homes sold). Belvedere, Larkspur, and San Rafael had 3 sales each. Ross, San Anselmo, and Sausalito had 1 sale. The average days on market for homes that sold was a mere 59 days (8 days less than last month) and the average sales price was just under $2.5 million (roughly $772/per sq. ft.), with an average of 3,353 square feet.

The inventory level in Marin County’s ultra-luxury market (homes priced in the $4 million and up range) rose to 54 active listings, compared with 46 last month. Tiburon, as usual, boasts the largest number of such homes with 19.

[ … click here for the complete report courtesy of NorthBayRE.com].

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Marin County Real Estate (July 2008)

July 13, 2008

Whatever wrenches, potholes, u-turns, and other impediments to a prosperous 2008 real estate market recovery we encounter in local (and especially national) media, the engine keeps on running in Marin County, California, where we continue our annual journey onwards and upwards — with some notable exceptions. We just don’t see the wild down-swings in pricing like other parts of the country (click HERE for my recent article on Fundy Markets). I know many of us feel blessed for the good fortune of finding our way here … and we should (click HERE for last week’s Forbes article discussing Marin Schools).

As reported last month, Marin was the ONLY county in the entire Bay Area to have a year-over-year increase in median price last month (prices were up 5.8%) according to DataQuick which surveys all recorded sales. The numbers for the HWY 101 corridor covered by this update are also pretty amazing–the average asking price for single family homes sold is $2.125 million (excluding Novato) and even in Novato that number is $958,000.

We currently have 781 active listings (down from 821 in June 2008). While the Summer is our slow season, buyers continue visiting open houses en mass.

[…click here for the rest of the report courtesy of NorthBayRE.com.]

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