At the end of every quarter of the year, the research division of Better Homes and Gardens Mason-McDuffie Real Estate analyzes the area Multiple Listing Service data to try to determine the direction of home buying and selling in Alameda County.  They develop a valuable review for current homeowners, and for future homebuyers, and give a clear cut picture of where the residential real estate market has been, and where it is going.
The key to the present statistics this quarter is the lack of inventory of home for buyers to purchase. This lack of inventory has pushed the prices of the available homes higher than expected, and created multiple offer situations. To illustrate, in the last quarter of 2012, the median price of a single family detached home in Alameda County  was 21% higher than the fourth quarter median price of 2011. The comparisons are $389,806 at the end of 2011, vs. $473,404 at the end of 2012. That is an impressive change upwards.
 While this is a countywide statistic, and some cities did not follow this pattern, Oakland was notable in leading with a 32% annualized increase, followed by Albany at +30%, and Fremont at +26%.Â
These remarkable statistics were due in large part to the total lack of available inventory of homes for sale. At the end of 2012, only 493 existing single-family detached homes were listed for sale--that is down 79% from the 2345 homes listed for sale on the final day of 2011. Truly a major change. As a result, the few homes of 2012 were highly sought after, and moved quickly, averaging only 33 days on the market compared to 53 days on the market in last year's final quarter.
What does all this mean? It means many things depending on the specific market being discussed, but, if you own an Oakland home, and are considering selling it soon, these figures are very encouraging to your plans. I would be willing to discuss your sale with you, and assist you in moving ahead with your next step.Â
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Posted by Bruce Wagg on
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