November’s numbers are in and there are no real surprises. Last month’s momentary increase in the median price in several cities like Belmont and Redwood City (as previously discussed) was due to an inordinate number of larger homes selling in October. This month, the opposite was true as the median size home sold was smaller than the median home in Belmont so it gives the appearance that the median home value dropped.
As seen in this graph, the price per square foot that the average Belmont home sold for was up—again due to smaller size homes selling (smaller homes sell for more per square foot than larger ones).
Several key market indicators you might want to watch…
↑The number homes sold in Belmont was up from last month and closer to the typical winter selling pattern, though still less than past markets. We’ll give this one thumbs up for performance.
↘The percentage the seller received of the asking price was down from last month’s 100.28% to 97.78 and down from last year’s 101.07%. In fact, one has to go back to December of 2003 to see this low a number. One thing that contributed to this swing was several homes sold which had been on the market for quite some time. Seller’s nearly always get less for their home if it has sat on the market for awhile so this skewed the number s a bit—we give it a down arrow just the same as a sign of a weakened housing market.
↔The average home sold in 44 days—again up from last month’s 29 and up from last year’s 32. However, two homes sold for significantly over the asking price (one for over $100,000)—a clear sign the market is still alive on the Peninsula. While 13 homes sold under asking they were on the market for on average 50 days! Another five sold for the asking price and even they averaged 40.6 days on the market—an anomaly. Given the fact that so many homes which were “stale” on the market still sold for so much, we opt to put this market indicator in the “no change” category as it could go either way.
All Belmont Sales as reported in the Multiple Listing Service for November 2007. (Click on the picture for a larger version).
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