The June 2016 Marin County Real Estate Market Report

I am pleased to present the June 2016 Marin County Real Estate Market Report, with data as of month-end May 2016, compiled by the excellent analytics team at Decker Bullock Sotheby’s International Realty. We continue to see a very robust real estate market in Marin County, with homes that are prepared and priced appropriately selling quickly. I am also seeing some price reductions — mainly in situations where sellers were overly optimistic or have under prepared their homes for sale.

In May I closed several listings, including 21 Underhill in Mill Valley, which sold in one day for $315,000 over the asking price. Read my blog article here for more information on the preparation of that home for sale. Even in this market, the sellers were wise to spend some time to make the home “move in ready” which is what buyers who are willing to pay top dollar demand.

I am also working with several sets of buyers and I am pleased that we have been successful in that arena as well. Just this week one of my buyers went into escrow on her “dream home” in San Rafael’s Bret Harte neighborhood, successfully beating out very intense competition. If you are looking for a home, you may search for homes right from my website and receive email alerts with new listings matching your criteria. This is a great way to get a pulse on the market in your price range.

The 2016 home buying season is well underway nationwide, with homes in May moving as fast as we’ve seen since the housing recovery began – even as asking prices continue to hit new record highs.

While the media has indicated that the luxury market is softening, in Marin the number of luxury home sales in the very top tier outpaced last year’s sales. In 2015 through May, there were 17 homes sold over $5 million, this year there are 18. “As our agents have represented fully half of the luxury sales in Marin, we see that luxury estate properties are in high demand and our extensive marketing is drawing buyers from around the world for these trophy homes,” states Heidi Pay, C.O.O. of Decker Bullock Sotheby’s International Realty.

The statistics paint a different picture for homes in the $3-$5 million range. The number of sales have dropped significantly, from 57 to 36, roughly 37%. In Marin County, the inventory of homes for sale increased from 317 last month to 378 this month. This number is still 63% below inventory levels in 2007 at the market peak. The continued and historic lack of home inventory has contributed to the decline in the number of homes sold from 865 to 733 year over year for the first five months. The spring sales were markedly slower; however, we are seeing a monthly season increase in May.

The average sale price of single family homes reached $1,661,796, up more than $57,000 compared to the previous month. Comparing last year to this year-to-date, the median price is up nearly $100,000. Prices have continued to climb, now at 36% over the peak in 2007, and up nearly $400,000 from the average price last year.

Regular readers of my monthly Marin real estate market report will know that the percentage of homes in higher inventory areas like San Rafael and Novato are most representative of the Marin real estate market. This number has consistently hovered around 50% of homes for the last few months.

Also interesting is this chart (above) which breaks down sales by town in Marin County. As you can see, Corte Madera has the lowest days on market at only 19. To buyers, I’m sure it feels like everything is selling very quickly.

I hope you have found the June 2016 Marin County Real Estate Market Report informative. If you have any questions or if I can be of assistance, please call or text me at 415.847.5584 or complete the below contact form. Feel free to leave your comments and observations below as well. Wishing you a wonderful summer!