Fantastic October for Alameda Home Sales

Wow, October was a great month for Alameda Home Sales. The Real Estate market heated up this past month recording more sales in October than any month over the past 21 months.

The Island had 66 sales that accounted for nearly $39 million in property transferring hands. The past three months have been the strongest number of units sold since June, July and August of 2008; 171 units compared to 2008’s 155.

Both median and average home price were over the past two months. The median saw a month-over-month increase of 10 percent. October’s median home price was $567,500. The single family residence market had 46 sales with a median price of $636,500.

The average price for an Alameda home was $590,095 a five percent increase over September. Most sellers were getting close to their asking price. The average sale price compared to the list price was 97.8 percent and 98.4 percent for single family residences.

This is very good news in what has been a very lackluster year for sales. The past three months put Alameda sales closer to the 2008 total just trailing the prior year by 11 sales. Comparing January to October sales 2008 had 391 sales compared to this year’s 380.



Link to Larger Chart

With all these sales there has been some pressure on inventory. Inventory has fallen to about two months of homes on the market. A balanced market is six months of inventory. Traditionally, when inventory drops to these levels price will go up. Given that it is still difficult to get financing for homes in the Jumbo market, I not sure if we will see a price run up, but given the sales in the first part of the year were very slow, October is still very good news.

October 2009 Sales

. Sale Date Address Type Beds Full Baths Sale Price . 10/1/2009 1411 4TH ST SFR 2 1 $512,000 . 10/1/2009 2815 SEA VIEW PARKWAY SFR 4 3 $1,100,000 . 10/2/2009 1211 PACIFIC AVE MFR 0 0 $550,000 . 10/2/2009 1848 8TH ST SFR 2 1 $485,000 . 10/2/2009 538 PALACE CT MFR 0 0 $370,000 . 10/5/2009 2101 SHORELINE DR #421 CONDO 2 1 $361,000 . 10/5/2009 3037 THOMPSON AVE SFR 2 1 $635,000 . 10/5/2009 3437 SOLOMON LANE TOWNHOUSE 2 2 $430,000 . 10/6/2009 313 FAIR HAVEN RD SFR 3 2 $585,000 . 10/6/2009 970 POST STREET SFR 4 3 $610,000 . 10/7/2009 2 OAK PARK DR SFR 2 2 $499,000 . 10/9/2009 1115 BAY ST SFR 5 3 $1,917,828 . 10/9/2009 117 HUDSON BAY SFR 4 3 $801,000 . 10/9/2009 1719 WILLOW STREET SFR 3 2 $705,000 . 10/9/2009 2051 OTIS DR #A CONDO 2 1 $280,000 . 10/9/2009 2408 CORAL SEA ST SFR 4 2 $702,000 . 10/9/2009 2418 BUENA VISTA AVE SFR 2 1 $333,000 . 10/9/2009 3322 CONSTANCE CIR SFR 3 2 $775,000 . 10/13/2009 912 BROADWAY SFR 3 1 $600,000 . 10/14/2009 1010 CENTRAL AVENUE SFR 4 2 $688,000 . 10/14/2009 1012 CENTRAL AVENUE MFR 0 0 $688,000 . 10/14/2009 1332 FERNSIDE BLVD SFR 2 1 $500,000 . 10/15/2009 125 BAY PARK TER CONDO 2 2 $478,000 . 10/15/2009 1359 REGENT ST SFR 3 2 $705,000 . 10/15/2009 2101 SHORELINE DRIVE #431 CONDO 2 1 $354,000 . 10/15/2009 2421 BUENA VISTA AVE MFR 0 0 $480,000 . 10/15/2009 2622 BAYVIEW DRIVE SFR 4 2 $711,000 . 10/15/2009 2907 BAYVIEW DR SFR 2 2 $495,000 . 10/15/2009 5 EGRET CT SFR 3 2 $610,000 . 10/15/2009 950 SHOREPOINT CT #116 CONDO 2 2 $330,000 . 10/16/2009 135 JUSTIN CIR SFR 4 2 $775,000 . 10/16/2009 1415 WILLOW STREET SFR 5 4 $740,000 . 10/16/2009 1833 SAN ANTONIO SFR 4 2 $775,000 . 10/16/2009 211 BANNISTER CT SFR 3 2 $610,000 . 10/16/2009 3263 FERNSIDE BLVD SFR 4 2 $843,580 . 10/16/2009 380 HOLLISTER SFR 3 2 $745,000 . 10/16/2009 45 ROSS ROAD SFR 3 3 $880,000 . 10/20/2009 1305 REGENT ST SFR 4 2 $565,000 . 10/20/2009 1724 TREGLOAN COURT SFR 2 1 $510,000 . 10/20/2009 2525 WEBB AVE SFR 3 2 $360,000 . 10/21/2009 2101 SHORELINE DR #480 CONDO 2 1 $380,000 . 10/21/2009 3018 BAYO VISTA AVE SFR 3 2 $860,000 . 10/21/2009 3510 SAVANA LN TOWNHOUSE 3 2 $475,000 . 10/22/2009 2429 BUENA VISTA AVE MFR 0 0 $338,000 . 10/22/2009 411 LINCOLN AVE SFR 2 1 $485,000 . 10/22/2009 775 HAIGHT AVE SFR 3 2 $330,000 . 10/23/2009 1023 WALNUT ST SFR 3 2 $680,000 . 10/23/2009 1138 MARIANAS LN TOWNHOUSE 3 2 $450,000 . 10/23/2009 1437 MORTON ST. #H CONDO 1 1 $180,000 . 10/23/2009 146 BASINSIDE WAY SFR 4 2 $1,150,000 . 10/23/2009 219 CYPRESS #B TOWNHOUSE 1 1 $236,000 . 10/23/2009 325 KITTY HAWK RD #UNIT CONDO 2 2 $250,000 . 10/26/2009 3274 MADISON ST SFR 3 2 $638,000 . 10/27/2009 1528 PACIFIC AVE SFR 2 1 $498,000 . 10/27/2009 2066 EAGLE AVE SFR 3 1 $590,000 . 10/28/2009 3 FITCH CT SFR 4 2 $665,500 . 10/30/2009 1004 BEGONIA DR SFR 4 3 $660,000 . 10/30/2009 1142 SILVA LN SFR 3 2 $559,888 . 10/30/2009 1343 BROADWAY SFR 5 2 $775,000 . 10/30/2009 1416 5TH ST SFR 2 1 $370,000 . 10/30/2009 1621 BROADWAY MFR 0 0 $848,500 . 10/30/2009 1825 SHORELINE DR #310 CONDO 2 2 $350,000 . 10/30/2009 2137 OTIS DR #316 CONDO 1 1 $239,000 . 10/30/2009 429 HARBOR LIGHT RD SFR 4 2 $570,000 . 10/30/2009 813 PORTOLA AVE SFR 3 1 $785,000 . 10/30/2009 949 BUENA VISTA AVE SFR 3 2 $490,000

September: Best Alameda Home Sales Month of 2009

Back from vacation, so a little late on some Alameda Real Estate reporting. Today is my attempt to get caught up with what is happening in the world of home sales for the Island.

September proved to be the best month of the year for sales. According to the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) September’s 53 sales topped August by one sale. These two months account for 34 percent of this year’s sales.

It was good to see sales moving again. The late summer surge allowed for sales to make up some ground on 2008. For the same time period (Jan-Sept), 2009’s 314 sales are just 29 transactions behind 2008. Both years are far behind 2007 that saw 438 sales for the same period and had a year-end total of 556 homes trading hands. The past two years have seen a 100 less sales then the high of 2007.

September’s sales show a nice upward trend from the low of 21 sales in January. Median home price moved slightly upward from $505,500 in August to $517,000 this past month.

The most interesting thing to me was 23 properties sold fro or above list price. On average all the sales were at 100 percent of list price. This is a sign that price have hit bottom or people are aggressively pricing their homes. It appears that multiple offers are starting to come back with the decrease in inventory.

Sales for September broke down the following:
Total Sales: 53
Median Sale Price: $517,000
Average Sale Price: $562,064
Single Family Residences: 34
Condominium: 16
Multi Family: 3
High SFR: $1,622,500
Low SFR: $199,000
High Condo: $646,000
Low Condo: $199,000

Daily Sales

. Sale Date Address Type List Price Sale Price % . 9/1/2009 2448 ROOSEVELT DR SFR $599,950 $575,000 96% . 9/2/2009 339 BROADWAY #208 CONDO $295,000 $290,000 98% . 9/2/2009 757 EAGLE AVE SFR $428,000 $410,000 96% . 9/2/2009 145 BASINSIDE WAY SFR $642,000 $645,000 100% . 9/2/2009 735 PALMERA COURT SFR $998,000 $889,000 89% . 9/2/2009 2170 PACIFIC AVE SFR $407,000 $407,000 100% . 9/3/2009 1324 BAY ST SFR $825,000 $798,000 97% . 9/4/2009 3318 WASHINGTON CT SFR $850,000 $850,000 100% . 9/4/2009 2418 MARTI RAE CT SFR $320,000 $340,000 106% . 9/4/2009 3045 MARINA DRIVE SFR $950,000 $950,000 100% . 9/5/2009 537 PALACE CT MFR $469,900 $500,000 106% . 9/9/2009 635 CENTRE CT CONDO $530,000 $530,000 100% . 9/9/2009 1173 BROADWAY MFR $765,000 $745,000 97% . 9/9/2009 22 MOORE CT SFR $839,000 $820,000 98% . 9/9/2009 1822 NASON ST SFR $530,000 $520,000 98% . 9/9/2009 1600 DAYTON AVE SFR $1,799,000 $1,622,500 90% . 9/9/2009 250 BRYANT AVE SFR $898,900 $858,000 95% . 9/10/2009 1227 BROADWAY SFR $514,500 $487,000 95% . 9/10/2009 305 SHELL GATE ROAD SFR $599,000 $602,000 101% . 9/10/2009 3513 MCSHERRY WAY SFR $609,000 $590,000 97% . 9/11/2009 3025 FLORA VISTA CONDO $399,900 $415,000 104% . 9/11/2009 1126 HOLLY STREET CONDO $459,000 $450,000 98% . 9/11/2009 1305 CROWN DR CONDO $679,900 $646,000 95% . 9/11/2009 713 PACIFIC AVE SFR $449,000 $485,000 108% . 9/14/2009 757 PACIFIC AVE SFR $250,000 $300,000 120% . 9/15/2009 955 SHOREPOINT CT. #113 CONDO $215,000 $220,000 102% . 9/16/2009 2101 SHORELINE DR #240 CONDO $439,000 $425,000 97% . 9/16/2009 1311 WEBSTER ST #E101 CONDO $232,900 $240,000 103% . 9/16/2009 1843 WOOD STREET SFR $399,000 $378,000 95% . 9/17/2009 22 FERRO CT SFR $715,000 $675,000 94% . 9/18/2009 2914 BAYVIEW DR SFR $679,000 $665,000 98% . 9/18/2009 1805 SHERMAN ST SFR $249,900 $245,500 98% . 9/22/2009 1160 BISMARCK LN. CONDO $409,000 $400,000 98% . 9/22/2009 2323 BUENA VISTA AVE MFR $474,900 $510,000 107% . 9/22/2009 1026 FOUNTAIN ST SFR $575,000 $568,000 99% . 9/23/2009 2030 SAN ANTONIO AVE SFR $785,000 $760,000 97% . 9/23/2009 228 DIAPIAN BAY SFR $759,000 $739,999 97% . 9/23/2009 440 CAMDEN RD SFR $598,880 $580,000 97% . 9/25/2009 1810 CENTRAL AVE #209 CONDO $388,000 $388,000 100% . 9/25/2009 955 SHOREPOINT CT. #209 CONDO $199,000 $199,000 100% . 9/25/2009 2068 CENTRAL AVE SFR $749,000 $815,000 109% . 9/25/2009 2716 SAN JOSE AVE SFR $439,700 $517,000 118% . 9/25/2009 2 STONE HBR SFR $885,000 $870,000 98% . 9/25/2009 112 SABLE PT SFR $875,000 $867,000 99% . 9/28/2009 928 SAN ANTONIO AVE SFR $533,000 $475,000 89% . 9/28/2009 6 ELLIS CT SFR $709,000 $699,000 99% . 9/29/2009 3031 LINDA VISTA CONDO $419,000 $419,000 100% . 9/29/2009 2133 SANTA CLARA AVE #323 CONDO $299,000 $299,000 100% . 9/29/2009 22 LEONARD COURT SFR $589,900 $589,900 100% . 9/30/2009 931 INDEPENDENCE DR # A7 CONDO $429,000 $429,000 100% . 9/30/2009 3032 ALTA VISTA CONDO $445,000 $442,500 99% . 9/30/2009 325 KITTY HAWK RD #214 CONDO $278,000 $270,000 97% . 9/30/2009 709 HAIGHT AVE SFR $379,000 $379,000 100% .

A Look at Home Sales Bands

Sometimes I wonder, if other people are as into breaking down data as much as I am, but when it comes to home sales it is all about the numbers. Looking and fining something new in the numbers is like prospecting and it makes it interesting to me.

For the past few weeks, I have wanted to look at the price bands for the Alameda Real Estate market. Price bands are good way to get a sense of how the market has been performing over the past six months.

The breakdown shows that most home sales are finding buyers in the $500,000 range. This is where 43 of the 197 sales were recorded. The $600,000 range accounted for another 42 sales. Combined the two bands accounted for 42 percent of the sales.

As most people would think the high and low ends of the market had the fewest number of sales. The Million Dollar market has almost vanished. With only three sales to date the Island has not seen a seven figure sales since April 7.

Since I was breaking down the data I also looked at sales by property type. Single family homes are still the driver in the market accounting for 68 percent of the sales. Condominiums represented 23 percent of the sales this year.

The most interesting breakout was of home sales by square footage. This was spread almost evenly among a variety of home sizes. I shows to me that it not so much the home size, but the location of that home.

Hope that you find the numbers interesting.

. Price Band Sales . $199,000 and lower 5 . $200,000 to $299,999 9 . $300,000 to $399,999 24 . $400,000 to $499,999 38 . $500,000 to $599,999 43 . $600,000 to $699,999 42 . $700,000 to $799,999 23 . $800,000 to $899,999 8 . $900,000 to $999,999 2 . $1,000,000 or more 3 . . Property Type Sales . Condominium 46 . Multi Family 17 . Single Family Residence 134 . . Square Footage Sales . Under 1,000 21 . 1,001 to 1,299 37 . 1,300 to 1,599 36 . 1,600 to 1,899 38 . 1,900 to 2,199 16 . 2,200 or more 27 .

Link to Larger Chart

What's a home worth?

What's a home worth? That is the biggest topic in Real Estate this week has been what the actual value of a home is to an appraiser.

Most buyers are unaware of an industry change in the home appraisal process that has begun stalling sales in many areas. The changes in appraisal rules have home sellers and real estate agents now find themselves fighting inaccurate home value appraisals in a tough market and making it even more difficult to sell.

The biggest issue is under an industry code of conduct that took effect May 1, mortgage brokers, real estate agents and loan officers are prohibited from selecting home appraisers. This has resulted in appraisers that are from outside an area pricing homes without local knowledge.

In a place like Alameda, a block in one direction can add or subtract value because of the neighborhood, schools or housing stock. An out of the area appraiser would not have that local knowledge.

The new rule was put into place because past practice of agents and mortgage brokers-who only make money when home sales and refinancing are completed pressured appraisers to modify estimates. There’s little doubt there was collusion nationwide in past years between some appraisers and lenders, which led to abuse and resulted in the new rules.

In order to avoid violating the rule that applies to mortgages that will be sold to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, called the Home Valuation Code of Conduct, many lenders are hiring companies that put together pools of appraisers and then assign them to individual housing transactions.

Real estate agents and mortgage brokers say the pool of out-of-area appraisers has led to an increase in questionable or low valuations by appraisers who are leery of producing estimates that are too high. Those appraisers from outside the housing market and unfamiliar with the nuances of neighborhoods to which they’re sent are being very Conservative.

National Association of Realtors chief economist Lawrence Yun said the appraisal problem is serious. “Lenders are using appraisers who might not be familiar with a neighborhood, or who compare traditional homes with distressed and discounted sales,” he said. “In the past month, stories of appraisal problems have been snowballing from across the country with many contracts falling through at the last moment.”

Home appraisals that come in at lower-than-agreed-upon sale prices can kill deals and at the very least they could delay sales as the home buyer and agent working on details to rework the deal. From what I have been reading appraised values has been tough for high-end homes for which there now are few recent comparable sales.

This is just one more element that could delay the housing market recovery and increase foreclosures if appraisal problems are not quickly corrected. My suggestion is that if you believe a valuation is low on home that you are selling that you hire a local appraiser to get a second opinion.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Distressed Property: 28-Percent of Alameda Sales

The reports keep coming.

The National Association of Realtors reported today that existing-home sales made a small step-up in April. Buyers around the country are taking advantage of foreclosures and snapping up property that carries a large discount.

Home resales rose by 2.9% to a 4.68 million annual rate from 4.55 million in March. The NAR originally reported March sales fell 3.0% to 4.57 million. The April resale level of 4.68 million reported Wednesday by NAR was above Wall Street expectations of a 4.67 million sales rate for previously owned homes.

About 45% of the 4.68 million in April sales were foreclosures and short sales. The large number of these distressed property sales has driven prices lower, year over year. The median price for an existing home last month was $170,200, down 15.4% from $201,300 in April 2008.

In Alameda, we have seen sales increase steadily since January. The month-over-month change between March and April was a 40% increase. The difference between the two months is just 10 sales.



Link to Larger Chart


Distressed property sales, January 1 to May 27, are 28% of the sales the homes sold in Alameda. The short sale or foreclosure sale of Alameda properties recorded on the Multiple Listing Service show that the number is much smaller than the national number, but still significant.

Alameda buyers are now facing two big issues: lack of changing inventory and tighter lending standards. Weak demand has kept Alameda inventories of unsold homes low and unchanging. The inventory has been very static, it appears low priced homes are being snapped up but the weak inventory is depressing prices as buyers wait to see what direction the market will head.

Combine the inventory issue with tighter mortgage lending standards, which have made it harder to finance a purchase and pricing will be continue to be difficult to predict in the near future. The uncertain economic outlook is also hurting the existing-home market as unemployment rate rose to 8.9% in April from 8.5%.

Given California’s budget crisis, and assured job cuts it could be a long dry summer for the home market.

94501's Bottom and Top 5

When home sell, the first question almost everyone asks is “What did it sell for?”

As someone who watches the Alameda market very closely I like to add on to that question, “and how much of List Price did they get?”

I took a look at Single Family Residence from January 1, 2008 to March 31, 2009, to see how the home pricing is holding up over 15-month period. I think that tracking this list-to-sold percentage is a good way to see if Real Estate salespeople are pricing homes correctly in what has been a very volatile market. Not easy to do.

At the bottom of the list is 1810 Hibbard; the property sold for 75% of the list price for this two bedroom, one bathroom Central Alameda home. Missing the sale price by 25%  is a big margin could mean many things, but most all it says it was way over priced. On the opposite end of the scale, something almost reminiscent of the year 2000, 2253 Clinton sold for 145% of the list price. All the properties that sold in the top five were under $400,000.


View Larger Map

Of the 360 homes sold in this period, 233 sold for under the list price, another 59 sold for the list price and 68 sold over list.

So if you are like me here are Alameda bottom and top five home sales based on sale price to list price

Alameda: March Home Sales

The month of March came to a close last week and the Alameda sales data shows that the news is mixed in the first quarter of 2009. Sales remain flat with 25 sales recorded on the MLS for March; the total for the quarter was 68. The first quarter of 2007 had 61 sales, so the positive there was an increase.

The not so good news is current homeowners continue to see the median sale price decline 20% from March 2008. Of the 25 properties sold in March seven of were purchased at or above the list price, the median accepted offer was 97% of the list price. I think that this shows a leveling in the market. As the percentage of list to sale gets closer it shows that buyers are finding pricing they find to be a good value.

The month also recorded a million dollar sale, 123 Old Castle sold for just $10,000 less than the asking price of $1,295,000. The largest overbid came in at 116% of the asking price. A condo, 1629 Foley, sold for $230,000 more than $30,000 over the asking price. The lowest offer was 1514 Minturn that only received 63% of the asking price of $380,000.

April will be a pivotal month; if sales are in the 20-30 range then I think the market will continue to lag well into 2009. If we see a jump from March to April then the traditional selling season will be off to a good start.

Sale Date	Address	Listing Price	Sale Price	%
04-Mar-09	1629 FOLEY ST	$    199,000.00	$    230,000.00	116%
06-Mar-09	1807 2ND STREET	$    239,000.00	$    225,000.00	94%
06-Mar-09	2153 CLINTON AVE	$    748,000.00	$    688,000.00	92%
06-Mar-09	1811 SHERMAN ST	$    484,900.00	$    465,000.00	96%
09-Mar-09	1828 9TH ST	$    489,000.00	$    489,000.00	100%
09-Mar-09	1011 BROADWAY	$    419,900.00	$    390,000.00	93%
12-Mar-09	234 CHESWICK CT	$    699,000.00	$    633,000.00	91%
12-Mar-09	1305 WEBSTER ST #C203	$    169,900.00	$    165,000.00	97%
13-Mar-09	104 SABLE PT	$    699,000.00	$    690,000.00	99%
13-Mar-09	1305 MOUND ST	$    599,000.00	$    625,000.00	104%
17-Mar-09	1333 WEBSTER ST #A212	$    159,900.00	$    150,000.00	94%
18-Mar-09	1 FLETCHER CT	$    649,000.00	$    625,000.00	96%
19-Mar-09	760 BUENA VISTA	$    625,000.00	$    590,000.00	94%
19-Mar-09	547 KINGS RD	$    609,000.00	$    575,000.00	94%
20-Mar-09	1809 FREMONT DR.	$    839,000.00	$    815,000.00	97%
20-Mar-09	1104 SANTA CLARA AVE	$    549,000.00	$    540,000.00	98%
23-Mar-09	325 SUNSET ROAD	$    525,000.00	$    555,000.00	106%
25-Mar-09	1514 MINTURN ST	$    380,000.00	$    241,000.00	63%
25-Mar-09	123 OLDCASTLE LN	$ 1,295,000.00	$ 1,285,000.00	99%
26-Mar-09	3160 PHOENIX LN	$    407,900.00	$    408,000.00	100%
27-Mar-09	1545 B SANTA CLARA AVE	$    499,000.00	$    500,000.00	100%
30-Mar-09	1708 BROADWAY	$    539,000.00	$    539,000.00	100%
31-Mar-09	2137 OTIS DR #314	$    353,000.00	$    350,000.00	99%
31-Mar-09	613 HAIGHT AVE	$    405,000.00	$    375,000.00	93%
31-Mar-09	2101 SHORELINE DR #214	$    439,000.00	$    420,000.00	96%
	Median	$    499,000.00	$    500,000.00	97%
	March 2008 Median		$    625,000.00
		Y-Y Difference	-20%
			$    502,720.00