Home Value Increases Taper in July

July is a great month in Belmont as the wind winds down a bit in anticipation of our Indian summer.

We hope everyone had a great Fourth of July weekend and our slightly warmer than usual weekend.

If you are interested in the local microclimates in Belmont you can visit Weather Underground’s web site where folks like us upload our personal home weather station data. It’s interesting to see the various Belmont of micro-climate pockets.

On to the numbers…

[Click on the picture for a large view]

Talk about low inventory–real estate has been very slow this week as you can imagine. Tuesday was our Broker tour day and there no new listings in Belmont or San Carlos to even view. We can’t remember the last time that happened.

In this post we visit the home sales in Belmont for the month of June 2014.

SALES

Sales of existing single family homes dropped 15% over last year from 26 sales to 22 this June.

MEDIAN PRICE

Belmont’s median home price rose almost 20% over June of last year. The size of homes selling in the two periods also dropped almost 10% from 1975 square feet in 2013 to 1778 square feet in 2014 which does nothing but exacerbate the median price increase since for 20% more you can now buy a home 10% smaller. At $1,099,000, though, it’s a steep drop from May’s astounding median price of $1,300,000. Of course the homes which sold in May were over 16% larger and the median price only dropped 8.4% so there’s still a paper net gain of 8%.

Compared to June of last year, single family residential median price levels rose in all counties with Santa Cruz County up 20%, Monterey County up 16%, San Mateo up 14%, San Benito up 15% and Santa Clara County up 12%.

DOM

The time it took to sell the average home in Belmont was 12 days—down from 14 last year.

OVER ASKING SALES

91% of the homes sold over asking in June of 2014 compared to 88% during the same time last year.

PERCENT RECEIVED OF ASKING

This is the one statistic that indicates a slowdown in the rate of market appreciation. In 2013 the average seller received 112% of their asking price. That dropped to 109% this month—exactly on par with last month.

What does this drop mean? It’s probably indicative of values getting closer to where they should be for now. The initial increase we have seen over the last two years was clearly unsustainable but also understandable.

Prices had dropped well below expected value levels and that deficit was easily wiped out in 2012 as the market began its rebound in earnest. In 2013 we saw the rebound continue into unchartered waters and prices hit a high watermark. This year we see more of the same but as prices continue to rise fewer people can qualify for the median priced home and begin to seek less expensive cities—watch out east bay.

Disclaimer:

Drew & Christine Morgan are REALTORS/NOTARY PUBLIC in Belmont, CA. with more than 20 years experience in helping sellers and buyers in their community. They may be reached at (650) 508.1441 or emailed at info@morganhomes.com.

The information contained in this article is educational and intended for informational purposes only. It does not constitute real estate, tax or legal advice, nor does it substitute for advice specific to your situation. Always consult an appropriate professional familiar with your scenario.

Drew & Christine Morgan did not necessarily participate in these sales.