The recent Bay Area Market Report for the first quarter of 2013 has just been released, and the results are very exciting for Oakland homeowners, and Piedmont home sellers who have been considering putting their home on the market. Right now, there is a drastic shortage of homes for sale on the market. As of March 31, 2013, there are only 4098 existing single-family detached homes were listed for sale in the entire nine-county Bay area. While this is an improvement from the 3.370 homes available as of 12/2012, it is still down 55 % from the 10,282 homes available a year ago to date.Â
While home sales have fallen to their lowest level in five years in the Bay Area, once homes are placed on the market, all nine Bay Area counties reported impressive double digit year-over-year increases in the median home sales price for the second consecutive quarter. Notable is that Alameda County is reporting a 33% annualized increase in this median sales price, and Contra Costa County reporting a annujalized 31% increase.Â
Further, once homes were listed, they sold at a brisk pace. For the entire Bay Area, homes were on the market for an average of 54 days before receiving that desired final purchase offer, which is down from 55 days as of 12/2012, but most impressively down from being on the market 74 days a year ago to date-a notable change.
The most exciting news for Alameda County home sellers was that, because of the shortage of inventory, homes in Alameda County sold in an average of 29 days! If you compare this to Napa county, which recorded the highest average in the Bay Area of 94 days, that is a pretty remarkable statistic for Alameda county homeowners who might want to consider selling.Â
While these are a lot of numbers, they do point to the fact that home shortage means competition among buyers for those available homes.
Posted by Bruce Wagg on
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