Marin Market Marches Forward!

March is here in Marin and while it’s cold and rainy outside, the housing market seems to be heating up. Good timing, too. As you may know from reading this blog or any local news feed, last year was one of the slowest on record for home sales. Not just here, but throughout most of the Bay Area, and California, for that matter. I don’t track sales anywhere other than in Marin, but with so little for sale there simply wasn’t a lot of moving going on. 

I tend to be a 50% data guy and 50% comfortable shoes on the ground guy. Neither metric paints a picture in and by itself. We need to look at both, combined. That said, the data alone in at the end of January had the least amount of single family homes for sale any of us had ever seen. I also had the fewest amount of sales/moving inquiries I think I’ve ever had. The available inventory dropped steadily over the course of a year, all the way down to–are you read–only 95 homes for sale in the entire county. That’s one reason the sales volume dropped by nearly half for all the real estate companies here. With no homes for sale, there were none to buy. Nobody moved. But there’s always good news to be found somewhere, and the good news here is, that looks like it’s changing, and quickly.

In just a month, we’re now up to 160 homes for sale. My guess is that hits 200 in a few weeks. It’s still way low for what is typical here, but it’s a good start. Obviously, there are more homes which are in escrow (70 as of today) but those likely will close soon. Very few deals fall apart here, thanks to diligent sellers and agents who TCB up front, providing comprehensive Disclosure Packets prior to any offers being written. We’ve been doing this practice for close to fifteen years now and it’s the only way to go, for everyone. But as the weather warms up, so will the market and so will the amount of homes for sale. Good news for anyone wanting to move out, move up, move down or just move on. 

In the meantime, stay happy and healthy. Keep your attitude optimistic. Things could always be worse. Be thankful for what you have, not what you don’t. I sure am. I’m still here, after all, into my 38th year of doing a job that I absolutely love. 

Until next time, enjoy March wherever you are, along with all of 2024. Please stay safe and as always, thanks for reading.

Ted

415.377.5222

ted@gomarin.com

Filed under: Marin Real Estate Blog by Ted Strodder