Including both single-family homes
and condominiums and townhouses, the Marin median price was $740,000, a 19
percent jump over the same period a year ago and up slightly from November
2004, the previous all-time high.
"It's just total madness out
there right now," Marin Association of Realtors President Jack McLaughlin
said.
Marin's median home price, both for
single-family homes and overall, was by far the highest in the Bay Area, with San Mateo County a distant second at $698,000 and $693,000, respectively. Marin's
median price for townhouses and condos was $493,000 in January, up more than 13
percent over last year. San
Francisco had the
highest median price in that category at $670,000.
A combination of several factors is
sending prices through the roof, several local industry experts said. The
biggest factor is lack of inventory, they said. While buyer demand
traditionally outstrips inventory at this time of year, the situation is
exacerbated by high demand. McLaughlin said the trend of multiple frenzied
buyers making offers well above the asking price - a phenomenon that peaked
early last year - has returned.
McLaughlin said he personally has
been involved in at least 12 listings that have received multiple offers above
the asking price. We have to keep checking and
making sure the fax machine has paper in it we've been so busy," he said.
"I am totally buried in real estate transactions." Lack of inventory
is the only thing preventing the housing market in Marin from exploding, said
Larry Brackett, chief executive of Frank Howard Allen Realtors. "The
buyers are out there," he said.
Even with the lack of inventory to
match buyer demand, a total of 309 homes in Marin were sold in January, a 23.6
percent leap over January 2004. The numbers reflect the closure of sales, and
sales normally plummet in the winter months.
Another major factor in the craze
continues to be appreciation, according to Barry Crotty, an agent with Pacific
Union Residential Real Estate in Greenbrae. For example, he said a typical
$600,000 home in Terra Linda has appreciated by $100,000 just in the past year.
Sellers have gotten more savvy about the presentation of their homes, which
changes the perceived value of a home even beyond the increase in its actual
value. "The perceived value is certainly a little greater than it was in
past years," he said.
Given continued low interest rates,
even with the recent increase by the Federal Reserve, homeowners are also able
to remodel and expand their homes relatively cheaply, several experts said. As
a result, the actual quality of homes being sold is improving, furthering that
appreciation.
"If you drive around Marin, all
you hear are saws and hammers," he said. "People are really upgrading
the housing stock in Marin. We're not selling the same houses that we did six
months ago or three or five years ago." The phenomenon is not limited to
Marin, Brackett said. A total of 7,509 new and resale houses and condos were
sold in the nine-county region in January, DataQuick reported. That was a
nearly 6 percent jump over the same period a year ago.
"As far as identifying trends,
January and February numbers are generally shaky because of somewhat atypical
mid-winter purchase patterns," DataQuick President Marshall Prentice said.
"Still, last month's statistics were a continuation of trends we saw
toward the end of last year. More surprising than the strong sales counts was
the strong appreciation rate."
The median price paid for a Bay Area
home was $534,000, a new record. That was up 0.2 percent from $533,000 in
December, and up 20.5 percent from $443,000 for January a year ago. The last
time annual price increases in the Bay Area were more than 20 percent was in
January 2001, when the $375,000 median was up 20.2 percent from $312,000 a year
earlier, DataQuick reported.
Local industry experts said the
market shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon, particularly if sellers
step up and match buyers' demand.
"I don't think that anybody who
works in this industry right now really believes that there is a bubble," Crotty
said.
This month Liz McCarthy interviewed Jay Zemansky, Insurance
Broker from Sadler & Company Insurance, on the subject of Earthquake
Insurance:
Q: What is the California Earthquake Authority and how does it
work
California Earthquake Authority was
created so that ALL homeowners/renters/condo unit owners would have access to a
market for earthquake insurance no matter where they live in California. It was created to be self funded
by insurance premiums with no State of Calif. Funds used to pay claims. It has been in existence for over 10
years and is now fully funded and ready to pay out on any disaster that might
occurred due to an "event".
If a person has a policy for earthquake
insurance through their insurance carrier there is a 70% plus chance that it is
a CEA policy. The individual insurers handle the paper-work for their Clients
with homeowners, renters or condo insurance and place the earthquake coverage
with the CEA. The balance of the insurance companies carry the earthquake
coverage directly. When and if an "event" occurs a claim is made to the
Client's insurance carrier and they pass on the loss notice to the CEA.
Q: What are the limits &
deductibles on coverage?
Coverage is for the amount of
insurance as stated on the Clients policy.example: a $500,000 homeowners has
$500,000 coverage. There is no extended replacement cost as on the fire
portion of many policies.
The deductible is usually 15% of the
stated amount of coverage ($500,000 fire insurance on the home would be a
$75,000 deductible). The basic policy includes $5,000 contents coverage AND
$1500 (max) loss of usage (additional living expenses) due to an earthquake
loss. There is only one deductible per claim and the deductible is determined
by the fire insurance coverage as above $75,000 total deductible for the
dwelling/contents/loss of use.
Q: What items are not covered by
earthquake insurance?
Coverage is for the dwelling with
limited coverage on contents and loss of usage. Recently additional coverage
can be purchased for increased contents and loss of usage due to an insured
loss. This would include all earthquake damage.for the dwelling/contents
included in this would be fire that was a direct result of the earthquake.
Q: Can earthquake insurance
ever be cancelled if there are too many claims statewide?
NO.the CEA was created to enable all Californian's to obtain
insurance for earthquake (even in MONO
County).
Q: Who should get earthquake insurance?
If you are a homeowner I highly recommend you obtain
coverage as your home is the largest asset you will purchase in your lifetime.
I you own a condo, your association should have earthquake coverage on
the structure. If you are a renter you should consider this coverage
for your personal property and loss of use. If the "BIG ONE" hits, entire apartment
buildings could be destroyed as in the 1989 quake. The landlord does NOT carry
any insurance for tenants' personal property.
For more information please contact: Jay Zemansky 415-457-2400
email: sadlerinc@earthlink.net
Back to top
NAR Housing Update - homes sales set
record again in 2004
January 25, 2005 -- Existing
single-family home sales surged in 2004, well above the previous record set in
2003, while the December pace declined from a monthly record in November,
according to the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®.
There were a total of 6,675,000 existing-home sales in 2004,
up 9.4 percent from 6,100,000 in 2003. This is the fourth consecutive annual
record; NAR began tracking the sales series in 1968.
Existing-home sales slipped 3.3 percent in December to a
seasonally adjusted annual rate* of 6.69 million units from a downwardly
revised level of 6.92 million units in November, which was tied with June 2004
for the highest on record. Last month's sales activity was 5.0 percent higher
than the 6.37-million unit level in December 2003 and was the sixth-highest
monthly pace on record.
David Lereah, NAR's chief economist, says a decline was expected
in December. "Our sense was that November sales were the peak for the
current housing cycle, but activity remains strong," he says. "There
is no sign of a downturn. Home sales will continue at historically high levels,
and 2005 is expected to be the second-best year on record for the housing
market."
NAR President Al Mansell, CEO of Coldwell Banker Residential
Brokerage in Salt Lake
City, said market
conditions are favorable. "Investment opportunities remain for potential
homebuyers," he says. "Low mortgage interest rates are keeping the
door to homeownership open, which is the key to building family wealth over
time."
According to Freddie Mac, the national average commitment
rate for a 30-year, conventional, fixed-rate mortgage was 5.75 percent in December,
compared with 5.73 percent in November and 5.88 percent in December 2003. The
average 30-year rate for all of 2004 was 5.84 percent, the second lowest annual
average since Freddie Mac started tracking interest rates in 1971; the lowest
was 5.83 percent in 2003.
Housing inventory levels dropped 11.7 percent at the end of
December with 2.18 million existing homes available for sale, which represents
a 3.9-month supply at the current sales pace. "Tight housing supply is
continuing to put pressure on home prices because we still have more buyers
than sellers in the market. In fact, the month's supply of homes available for
sale is the lowest on record," Lereah said.
The national median existing-home price was $188,900 in
December, up 8.1 percent from December 2003 when the median price was $174,800.
The median is a typical market price where half of the homes sold for more and
half sold for less. For all of 2004, the median price was $184,100, up 8.3
percent from a median of $170,000 in 2003. This is the strongest annual
increase since 1980 when the median price rose 11.7 percent.
Regionally, existing-home sales in the Midwest rose 1.4 percent from November to an
annual rate of 1.41 million units in December, and were 3.7 percent above
December 2003. The median price in the Midwest was $152,000, up 7.1 percent from a year ago. In the Northeast,
existing-home sales rose 1.4 percent in December to a pace of 750,000 units,
and were 4.2 percent higher than a year earlier. The median existing-home price
in the Northeast was $214,800, up 8.6 percent from December 2003.
Existing-home sales in the South declined 4.2 percent in
December to an annual rate of 2.71 million units, but were 6.3 percent higher
than a year ago. The median price of an existing home in the South was
$173,200, which was 8.3 percent higher than December 2003.
The home resale pace in the West fell 7.2 percent to an
annual rate of 1.81 million units in December, but was 4.0 percent stronger
than December 2003. The median existing-home price in the West was $281,200, up
11.9 percent from the same month a year earlier.-NAR
Back to top
Fast
Facts
·Calif. median home price - Dec. 04: $474,480 (Source: C.A.R.)
·Calif. affordability index - Nov. 04: 19 percent (Source: C.A.R.)
·Calif. highest median home price by C.A.R. region - Dec. 04: St. Barbara
So. Coast $960,000 (Source: C.A.R.)
·Calif. lowest median home price by C.A.R. region Dec. 04: High Desert
$244,410 (Source: C.A.R.)
·Mortgage rates - week ending 2/17: (Source: Freddie Mac)
30-yr. fixed: 5.62%; Fees/points: 0.7%
15-yr. fixed: 5.14%; Fees/points: 0.7%
1-yr. adjustable: 4.18%; Fees/points: 0.6%
FREE.....Email Liz@BayAreaRealEstateSales.com or call (415)
380-2114 Liz and she'll send you a free Marin Information packet. You can also
search for Marin listings directly on BayAreaRealEstateSales.com: Search for Homes
