January Jump in Home Sales and Values as the Sun Shines on Marin

February is here in Marin and while the rains of December and January abated, the buying of Marin real estate did not. Tahoe got dumped on with snow and our reservoirs got restocked with fresh water, but fresh inventory of homes in all areas was at the lowest I can recall in all my years of doing this. At one point last month, there were only 47 single family homes for sale in the entire county. It’s not much better today as that number is still less than a hundred at only 96. That’s in all price ranges. If you narrow it down to homes under $2 mil, there are only 49. Under $1 mil and there are only 10 houses to choose from in the entire county. Given the demand for East Bay and SF buyers who want to flee their cities for a safer, more tranquil environment, it’s hard to see how any homes are going to last in this market. We’ll see how long it continues.

Mortgage rates are set to start inching up further in March, so the big brains say. But they’re already up nearly a full point from a year ago and still, no slow down. Remember, it’s only early February. Our home buying season tends to start in the middle of this month, just after the Superbowl, but you wouldn’t know it. It’s busy as can be. 

I had a lot of comments on these figures from last year, so I wanted to print them again here. For the year in 2021:

•      2075 single family homes were sold, down from 2312 in 2020
•      The average sale price was $2,151,000, up 15% from $1,814,000
•      (Note: 15% was also the national increase in average sales price for the country in 2021)
•      Sale prices averaged 99% of asking price, though whopping over asking sales were frequent
•      The average price per sq ft was $912 adjusted heavily for level land and condition, among others
•      Average Days on Market was 28, but the median was only 14

Going forward, I still see a continued “up” market for 2022, though perhaps not as robust as 2021 or the last half of 2020 even. Think “hot” instead of “boiling”. For now, that pretty much does it. Enjoy February and this entire new year, wherever you are and please stay safe. As always, thanks for reading.

Ted

415.377.5222

ted@gomarin.com

Filed under: Marin Real Estate Blog by Ted Strodder