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Health & Fitness

How's the Novato Housing Market Right Now?

The numbers speak for themselves: Volume is up 50 percent year-over-year with prices off about 14 percent year-over-year.

One of the questions I am asked most often is, “How’s the market?”  My response is usually, “Unbelievable!”

In all seriousness, we have a relatively strong market here in Novato (in our "new normal"), with multiple offers very common for homes that are priced well and in good condition.

This data below was mined from our local MLS, known as BAREIS, and is deemed reliable but not guaranteed.

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Disclaimers aside, the numbers tell us that volume is up 50% year-over-year, with prices off about 14% year-over-year.  It’s interesting to note that April 2011 vs. April 2009 shows that prices are down slightly less than 4%.

Here are the numbers for April, going back several years for comparison.  April is the midst of our Spring selling season, typically one of our busiest times of year.

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SFR*                 4/2011             4/10              4/09              4/08               4/07

Units                    36                   24                 25                  32                   38             

Avg. Price     $566,299      $656,294      $589,011       $688,383        $893,395

Avg. DOM**        95                   80                115                 107                  68

*SFR=Single Family Residences

**DOM= Days on Market

That was April, but how about a snapshot of the market at this moment in time?  A good metric we use to analyze the housing market is the percentage of homes listed for sale that are in contract to sell.  Of the 223 single-family homes that are listed for sale in Novato as of May 16, 85 of them are under contract to sell.  That translates to 38% of the homes for sale have an agreement between Buyer and Seller.

Generally, we consider 0%-25% to be a Buyer’s market, 25%-40% is considered a neutral market favoring neither Buyer or Seller, and anything more than 40% is considered a Seller’s market.  So you can see, things are moving out there.

Broken down by price point, the numbers reveal even more.  Homes priced $500,000 or less are experiencing strong demand, with 53% of that inventory in escrow.  As you go up in price range, these percentages decrease, obviously, but the bottom line is that our housing market is regaining strength.  Volume is usually a leading indicator, and with increased demand, prices usually begin to tick up as well.

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