If you’ve been residing in your Bay Area home for over five years, chances are you’ve already surpassed the $500,000 capital gains abatement threshold.
Continue readingMaximizing Your Real Estate Investment: Unlocking $1.5 Million in Untaxed Gain
Super Bowl XLIV brings you Belmont Home Sale Stats for January 2010
Before the Super Bowl XLIV gets started we thought we’d take a look at what happened in Belmont in January 2010.
We’re including two spreadsheets—one for this last January and to help put in perspective, the one from last January.
Most statistics across the country point to January of 2009 as the low point for the real estate market. But what are they saying? The lowest point for sales, median price or what?
Many pundits are saying that home values hit bottom in January of 2009 and in fact in many of the hardest hit areas like Phoenix that may well hold to be true. But for areas that initially fared better, indications are that the price erosion is continuing.
January 2010
January 2009
(Clicking on either chart will deliver a larger picture.)
Looking at these two data samples, it’s easy to see that sales in Belmont are indeed up—way up. January of 2009 was simply dismal with only four sales and reflected that overall uncertainty of the future as buyers chose to sit on the sidelines and wait to see how much more prices will tumble.
SALES
This January’s sales reflect more buyers entering the market and buying homes. In January of 2009 there were 31% more listings available yet sales increased this year by 175%!
What accounted for the huge increase in homes sales? Part of it appears to be the resignation by sellers that they must take less for their homes than they had hoped for a year earlier. Note that all but five homes which sold this January not only had a price reduction but on average all received only 94% of their already reduced price.
MEDIAN PRICE
Most sellers had to lower their initial asking price by $50,000 and then accepted offers another $50,000 less than that. On a median home price of $850,000 that represents a huge disparity between what sellers (or their agents) think their home is worth, and what buyers are willing to pay.
Sales were up indeed but at deeply discounted prices. The Median home price in Belmont was $850, 000 which is about 4.7% less than January of last year. But not only can you get a home for 4.7% less than last January the home you get will be 6% larger. Another way to look at it of course is that prices have really dropped closer to 11% year-over-year.
DOM
Have the price reductions and lower asking prices helped sell homes faster? Just the opposite turns out to be true. The days it takes a seller to seller their home has almost tripled from 42 to 125.
Enjoy the game!
The information contained in this blog is educational and intended for informational purposes only. It does not constitute legal, real estate or tax advice, nor does it substitute for profesional advice.
Belmont–Holiday Season Events
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Twin Pines Holiday Craft Faire – Nov 22 & 23 10 am – 4 pm – Twin Pines Park Belmont's City Parks and Recreation department would like to remind you about some fun, free and low cost events coming up. The Holiday Craft Faire in Twin Pines Park, Belmont, is on Sat. and Sun., November 22nd and 23rd – FREE for visitors! Many vendors with all handmade items, all price and interest ranges. When: Saturday & Sunday, November 22nd & 23rd, 2008 Time: 10:00 am to 4:00 pm Location: 20 twin pines lane, Belmont, ca 94002 Info: the faire will be held in 3 buildings at the beautiful twin pines park – twin pines senior & community center, lodge building and cottage. |
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Belmont homes sales continue to outpace California
While reports of drastic median price drops continue in the media, isolated areas which are less impacted receive little or no attention. At some point one might wonder why the news isn’t about areas that are not as impacted—why are prices holding up so well when other areas are suffering the greatest set back in years. But those turning to the mass media are clearly missing the whole story. This week, on June 1st, the Open Homes Guide section of the Sunday edition of the San Francisco Chronicle ran the home price closings—for April!
Forget about the fact that they are typically 1 to 1.5 months behind the market, they dutifully report the numbers without analysis or professional perspective.
May home sales statistics for Belmont are in and while there are no real surprises, that may be the best news yet.
↑At 17, there were four fewer Belmont home sales in May than April. Year over year (adjusted for seasonal selling patterns) there is no change over 2007. In 2006 there were 21 sales in May and at the height of the market in 2005 there were 29. Considering what the rest of the state is going through, we consider this a positive indicator for home values.
↓Of the 17 sales five homes sold over asking, one sold at the asking price and 11 sold under the seller’s asking price. That’s not as strong as last month where nine homes sold over and 10 sold under while two sold at asking price.
↗The average home which sold over asking sold for $61,000 over the seller’s asking price in seven days. The one home that sold at the seller’s asking price sold in one day. Of the 11 homes that sold under asking, those had been on the market an average of 89 days and sold for on average $30,500 less than the asking price. Contrasted to April where the average home sold for $31,000 over asking in 18 days, this is a relatively good sign and clearly one more indicator that seller’s should hire a local professional to assist them in pricing their home right.
↗The median price was $1,098,000 in May. Just last month it was only $930,000. The median size home sold in April was 211 Sq. Ft. smaller than in May. At current going rate of $ 574 per square foot, that adds another $121,000 onto April’s median home price, or conversely, subtracting that from May’s median home price (which is closer to the actual median home size in Belmont), we arrive at an adjusted median home value of $977,000 for May—statistically no change over April’s. Nevertheless, no change is welcome and to have even a slight indication of price stabilization at this point is a positive market indicator.
Sign-up for our local newsletter and receive an email alert and link around the tenth of each month to our detailed graphs for Peninsula cities.
↔Unchanged
↑Positive market force
↓Negative market force
↗↙Probable trend upward or downward
(Click on the spreadsheet for a full size image)