Just How Far Did South County Home Prices Fall?
Date: Tuesday November 18, 2008Posted in: price, real estate, short sale, foreclosures, Santa Clara County, Morgan Hill, South Santa Clara County, Gilroy, MLS, statistics, housing market, pricing, average price, home selling, Morgan Hill Real Estate, Gilroy real estate
I’ve had several clients and friends recently ask me just what, exactly, have home prices been doing in south Santa Clara County since they peaked. And, by the way, just when did they peak? To answer that question, I turned to MLSListings Pro where Realtors go to look at the Multiple Listing Service.
Here’s what I found for Morgan Hill: Morgan Hill’s average home sale price peaked in September, 2006 at $1,091,144. The average sale price for the year of 2006 was $945,240. The average sold home price in 2007 didn’t dip too drastically, but did fall 5% to $901,582. Our most recent data for 2008 through the third quarter shows an average sale price of $767,900.
For Morgan Hill, that is a total drop in average home sale prices from the year of 2006 to the end of the third quarter in 2008 of 19%.
And for Gilroy, the statistics look a little gloomier: Gilroy’s average home sale price peaked in the year 2006 with an overall average sale price for single family homes of $800,620 for that year. The average sale price for a Gilroy home in 2007 barely moved from the previous year and was $796,676. But through the third quarter of this year, the average sale price for 2008 is $565,278.
For Gilroy, that is a total drop in average home sale prices from the year of 2006 to the end of the third quarter in 2008 of 30%.
Gilroy has been particularly hard hit with foreclosures and short sales and those “distressed” listings seem to be what is selling there, so of course, that will drag down the average sale price for the city. If you live in Gilroy and you want to know how much your home may be worth now, don’t just automatically take 30% off what you think your house was worth in 2006. Each house is still valued individually and there are many factors that make up its worth. Call me for a thorough, in-depth market analysis if you are considering selling your home.
Let’s talk statistics
Date: Wednesday May 14, 2008Posted in: price, real estate, home, Morgan Hill, South Santa Clara County, San Martin, Gilroy, MLS, median price, statistics, contract
Here in the south Santa Clara County area consisting of Morgan Hill, Gilroy and San Martin, pending sales have risen as Spring progesses. In January of 2008, we had 56 single family residences (sfr) go under contract. In February, 2008, 68 went under contract. In March, 2008, 80 went under contract and in April, 2008, 123 went under contract which is a signifcant rise.
There are currently 825 sfr active listings in the south county area with 140 sales pending under contract.
For the month of April, 2008, the cumulative days on market (CDOM) is 116 compared to 92 from April of last year.
The average selling price in April for the south county is $607,283 which is a 30% drop from April of last year’s average of $868,560.
The median selling price in April for the south county is $605,777 which is a 25% drop from April of last year’s median of $807,345. I always feel the median price is a more accurate picture of what is happening in the market than the average price because it is easy to skew the average when a very expensive home sells.
These statistics were obtained from pro.mlslistings.com.
Isn’t it ironic?
Date: Monday May 5, 2008Posted in: real estate, multiple offers, Morgan Hill, real estate buyers, buyer's market, San Martin, Gilroy, MLS, median price
Several years ago, home buyers:
- were desperate to buy anything that could hold up a roof
- would offer well over list-price, especially when competing with other offers
- would purchase the home in as-is condition
- would have no contingencies in the contract
Fast-forward to 2008. Buyers are now paralyzed. It’s ironic because:
- there is a record amount of inventory to choose from
- sellers have dropped their list prices, and in many cases by hundreds of thousands of dollars
- interest rates are still low
- sellers are accepting terms that meet the buyer’s needs
Here in south Santa Clara County, average and median prices are below the average and median prices of single family homes during the fourth quarter of 2004. Currently for Multiple Listing Service (MLS) Area 1 (Morgan Hill, San Martin and Gilroy), the average price of a single family home is $723,004 and the median is $660,000. In 2004 Q4, the average was $734,250 and the median was $668,000. Just for reference, the peak average price for MLS Area 1 was $917,811 in the third quarter of 2006. And the peak median price for MLS Area 1 was $805,000 in the second quarter of 2006.
If you are contemplating a real estate purchase, now is a great time to buy in south Santa Clara County!
