Market Statistics for Hayward and Castro Valley, Ca. 12-31-11
Final Report for 2011!
What we can see from these figures is that Hayward has a larger number of listings that Castro Valley. No surprise there – Hayward is a good size city and Castro Valley is a much smaller unincorporated area of Alameda County. They are contiguous so many buyers cross over and shop for housing in both cities.
The absolute number of homes for sale has dropped in both cities in the last two months. That reflects the market in all parts of Alameda County. Inventory is down across all cities in Alameda County.
Hayward continues to have a large percentage of distressed sales. Again, that is not a surprise since Hayward real estate is generally lower priced. The first time buyers who bought up so much of the lower priced homes when the market was boiling have been hard hit by REOs and short sales.
One thing that is clear to me is that right now is a window of opportunity for buyers. Prices have crashed and may be bottoming out. Interest rates are at historic lows. In my opinion, anyone who buys a home now will look back in a few years and be very satisfied that they made that decision. There continues to be many opportunities to acquire attractive real estate in both Hayward and Castro Valley. Now is the time to take advantage of that opportunity.
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