Arn Cenedella

Archive for the 'Real Estate Data' Category

San Carlos Home Sales as a Percentage of New Listings

One way to track a market is to look at the number of monthly homes sales versus the number of new listings per month.

 Looking at this percentage of sales to listings can often provide more insight into the market than the actual number of homes sales. The number of home sales may be small – but is that because no one is buying (low demand) or no one is selling (low inventory). The number of homes sold is constrained by the number of homes for sale. It is hard to buy a house that is not for sale !

Looking at these figures, again we see the market is weaker in the first quarter of 2008 than it was in the first quarter of 2007. The number of home sales is March 2008 was approx. 80% of the number of new listings. The number of homes sales in March 2007 was approx. 50% of the number of new listings.

San Carlos monthly home sales

The number of homes sold in San Carlos in March 2008 shows the typical spring increase in the number of homes sold. However it should be noted that the number of sales in the first 3 months of the year is below the 2007 amounts.

18 homes sold January 2007 with 12 sold in January 2008.

15 homes sold in February 2007 with 12 sold in February 2008.

 38 homes sold in March 2007 with 26 sold in March 2008.

The obvious conclusion is that the number of sales in 2008 will be smaller than the number of sales in 2007. 

Weekly Mortgage Update 2-16-08

Linda Lunsman of Princeton Capital writes:

Last Week in Review

	“CUTS LIKE A KNIFE, BUT IT FEELS SO RIGHT” Bryan Adams And financial pros will tell you it’s wise to never try and catch a falling knife. Seems like decent advice in general – but in the financial world, it means that when the price of a Stock or Bond is in the midst of a severe decline, be very cautious about stepping in to buy…even if it feels so right because the price starts to look cheap. That’s because when prices declines sharply, it often gets even worse, making it hard to call the bottom. That’s why many investors, who attempt to buy on the way down, say the feeling cuts like a knife. And over the past week – Bonds have been dropping much like a knife, and home loan rates have risen by about .25% across the board.

Forecast for the Week

	After a closed market on Monday, all of the coming week’s economic reports will be delivered on Wednesday and Thursday – but don’t expect that any volatility will be limited to those days.  The inflation data and Fed Meeting Minutes could be real market movers. Since inflation erodes the value of the fixed return provided by a Bond, if the news of the week continues to reek of inflation – this could spell more bad news for Bonds and home loan rates. Remember, as a general rule, weaker than expected economic data is good for rates, while positive data causes rates to rise…

for more…….

Buyers are out in large numbers looking for property

Chris Iverson a Palo Alto realtor and guest contributor to Kevin Boer 3 Oceans Real Estate has written a recent post about whether this is a good time to buy. Chris mentions how one of his new listings just sold with no contingencies after being on the market for 3 days.

I have just put a new listing on the market at 256 Fir St., San Carlos for $859,000.

The property was held open both Saturday and Sunday. I had maybe 40 to 45 groups through each day. 3 of these prospects had recently made offers on other San Carlos listings but did not get the winning acceptance. One of these properties had 9 offers on it and the other had 4 offers.

So if you take the 13 offers and subtract the 2 winning offers, you have 11 other buyers looking for a house in San Carlos priced between $800,000 and $900,000.

Bottom line, the buyers are out there and they are ready willing and able to buy a well-located property that is priced reasonably and offers long-term value.

For a look at open house activity on the San Mateo Coastside, please go to Marian’s blog, Marian Bennett Half Moon Bay Coldwell Banker real estate agent. Marian reports many more buyers out looking at a new listing of hers than she has seen in many months. Marian rates the weather as a 10 as I do.

Spring is here – the buyers will follow – inventory is still low – it’s a good time to get your home on the market.

On a similar note, my Menlo Park Coldwell Banker office had a very good week last week in sales. My office which is one of the strongest Coldwell Banker offices in the entire Bay Area has been averaging many 5 or 6 sales a week. Last week we had 11 sales from a San Carlos condo priced at $649,000 to an Atherton estate priced a $8,250,000.

4170 Thain Way Palo Alto Barron Square townhouse

Another exciting tour property in Palo Alto today was 4170 Thain Way, Palo Alto listed by Dante Drummond Coldwell Banker for $1,199,000.

Per Dante:

One of Palo Alto’s largest townhomes! Sophisticated & elegant with hdwd flrs, cathedral ceilings, Andersen doors leading out of living room and formal dining room to outside extended patio w/views of trees and greenbelt. Two master suites, one down which opens to patio. One up with sitting rm, walk-in closet, balcony. Lots of storage, 2-car garage. Pool, spa, tennis

 Here is a picture:

Many years ago (20? 25?) I sold a one level townhouse at Barron Square to some dear friends and great clients. They just absolutely love their townhouse at Barron Square. He is a local Palo Alto family law attorney and she has worked at Stanford for many years. So I can personally attest to the desirability of this development. Unlike many newer developments, there is a sense of some elbow room at Barron Square. It was built in 1980.

A look at the Half Moon Bay San Mateo Coastside Market

For an up-to-date analysis of the market on the San Mateo Coastside, please go to a local blog written by Marian Bennett, a Coldwell Banker agent in Half Moon Bay. Marian also provides some detailed information of the various Coastside communities.

Countrywide Financial Market Ratings

Countrywide Financial one of the nation’s largest lenders and recently purchased by Bank of America has published its rankings of market risk for the entire country.

The rankings are on a scale from 1 to 5 – with 1 being the most stable and 5 being the most risky.

San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Clara counties are have been rated 2.

NO counties in California were rated as 1s.

The rankings will be used by Countrywide as a basis for determining the size of loans made in each area.

Menlo Park 2007 Real Estate Trends

The number of single family homes sold in 2007 increased  8.8% from 2006 levels.

Average and median prices of single family homes in Menlo Park decreased slightly by 2.1% and 0.7% respectively.

The number of condominium and townhouse sales in Menlo Park dropped 7.7% from 2006 to 2007.

Average and median prices however increased 5.4% and 5.2% respectively.

Redwood City 2007 real estate trends

The number of single family homes sold in Redwood City droped 11.1% from 20060 to 2007.

570 homes were sold in 2006 and 507 homes were sold in 2007.

The average and median prices increased 6.8% and 4.1% respectively to $1,030,281 and $885,000.

The number of Redwood City condominium and townhouse sales dropped 14.9% from 2006 to 2007.  There were 74 sales in 2006 and 63 in 2007.

As with single family homes, the average and median prices also increased 6.9% and 12.8% respectively. $591,594 average price and $597,400 median price.

To find market data in other San Mateo communities, please go to San Mateo County Real Estate Data on my blog www.SFPeninsulaREGuru.com.

San Carlos Real Estate Trends 2007

296 single family homes sold in San Carlos in BOTH 2006 and 2007 eventhough the numbers of listings decreased in 2007 from 440 to 381.

The median price for single family homes actually increased 11.9% from 2006 to 2007 to $1,077,500.

The number of single family homes sales has been decrasing while average and median prices continue to increase.

Just as with single family homes sales, the number of condominium and townhouse homes sales was basically unchanged from 2006 to 2007. (95 sales in 2006 and 96 sales in 2007)

The median price in San Carlos for condominiums and townhouses increased but at a lower rate 8.2% than did single family homes.

The San Carlos real estate market like most communities on the San Francisco Peninsula did fairly well in the overall down market in 2007. Sales remained fairly level from the prior year and property values increased.