I’ve had the sales stats prepared for publishing on my Blog but I kept holding off on releasing them. The numbers don’t look bad, sales are down, but that is not the issue. When the market is rapidly changing the stats lag and don’t tell the real story. As a Marin REALTOR, I can tell you what you already know; Marin real estate sales are slow.
In some areas prices are taking a hit. Novato entry level homes are sitting on the market. The banks actually require buyers to qualify for loans, what a novel idea. If you have a good down payment and credit, loans are available at decent rates. The most expensive loans are fixed rate, 30 year Jumbo (over $417,000). If you go with a five or seven year fixed rate loan rates are very competitive.
Where are home prices going in Marin? Like everyone else I don’t have a crystal ball but I can say that in the past forty years the average sales price in Marin (based on MLS) has increased in all but two years, 1991 and 1992. That drop in average sales prices was less than 3%. What other California counties have that type of stable price history?
August 2007
Marin Median Price $940,000
Median Days on Market 56
Number of Sales 223
August 2006
Marin Median Price $890,000
Median Days on Market 50
Number of Sales 300
A few things about these numbers; one month is too short a time period to see the whole picture and they also don’t take into account the sales (which have not closed yet) since the mortgage mess hit the fan. It is a buyer’s market, and buyers are finding some good deals.
Warren Carreiro, Broker
warren@RealtyOfMarin.com
Marin County Real Estate
Marin REALTOR
