Million Dollar Baby

Yesterday, I was getting caught up on my Real Estate reading and came across a press release from DataQuick titled: “Million-dollar home sales plummet in Golden State.” It seemed like a good topic for a post since I had just mentioned that three homes were listed for over a million-dollars last week. According to DataQuick the Alameda is not alone in the trend.

California million-dollar home sales plunged last year to their lowest level in five years, the result of a bone-dry mortgage market for prestige-home financing, as well as a decline in the value of many homes just over the million-dollar threshold, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 24,436 Golden State homes sold for a million dollars or more last year. That was down 42.5 percent from 42,506 in 2007. It was the lowest sales count since 20,595 were sold in 2003. In 2006 the $1 million-plus total was 50,010, in 2005 it was 54,773, and in 2004 it was 36,990, according to MDA DataQuick.

Total California home sales - including all price levels - increased 2.5 percent last year, to 393,703 from 383,748 in 2007. Of last year's sub-$1 million sales, at least 2,052 homes had previously sold for more than a million. One in sixteen homes sold for a million dollars or more last year; the year before it was one in nine.

After reading the the press release, I decided to take a look athow the “Luxury Homes” market was (and is) trending in Alameda. Actually to call it the luxury market is a little misleading because sales included multi-family, but here are the numbers. Currently there are 14 properties listed on the MLS for over a million–dollars. (Update: one more home on Bay Farm came on the market after I wrote the post, 6 Callan is listed for $2,095,00 this is a four bedroom, four bathroom home that looks out to the Bay)

In 2007, there were 37 properties that sold for seven figures. Five were multi-family and the other 32 were single family residences or condos. The townhomes on Tideway are considered condos and all three in this category were on this street. The two high home sales were on Creedon, Bay Farm Island, the high closed for $1,699,000.

In 2008, the number of Million dollar properties sold on the Island dropped to 54% to just 17. Two of the properties are multi-family and the other 15 were single family residences. A property on Saint Charles sold for $2,050,000. The median sale price percentage in this category was 96% of list price.

According to DataQuick, the median-sized million-dollar home was 2,494 sq.ft. with 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. The median price per square-foot for all million-dollar homes was $569, down 3.3 percent from $588 in 2007. For the market as a whole, the square-foot median declined 40.7 percent from $317 in 2007 to $188 last year, although roughly half that drop was due to a significant shift in the types of homes selling.

Alameda’s 2008 median-sized million-dollar home was 2,869 sq.ft. with 5 bedrooms and three bathrooms. The median price per square-foot for all million-dollar homes was $407 down from $454 in 2007.

The high end of the market is suffering from its own decline and 2009 has yet to see a million-dollar sale.

Here are Alameda's newest million-dollar listings:

2921 Marina Drive -- $1,079,000 -- Three Bedroom, Two Bathroom

1833 San Antonio  -- $1,055,000 -- Four Bedroom, Three Bathroom

123 Old Castle Lane -- $1,295,000 -- Five Bedroom, Three Bathroom