I like numbers. They don't lie, and they can usually tell a really good story.
The Marin IJ today had a story about home prices and sales both being up double-digits compared to last year. According to the IJ, home sales (units) in March 2010 were up 55% from March of last year. In March 2009, 111 single-family homes changed hands in Marin. Compare that to this year's number, 172 homes and you could say the market has shifted.
If you look at price, there's a change there too. March 2009 the median price for a single-family home in Marin County was $670,000 (just as an aside, can you remember just a few short years ago when the IJ's headline blared Marin's median price had topped $1 million? What a different time that was!) This year, that median has risen to $725,250, or 8.8%, according to the IJ.
My own business reflects a shift in the market as well. By this time last year, I'd closed 3 sales. This year, so far, I have closed 7. Last year, the 9 newly-constructed homes at Olive Ct. all sat unsold. Since the first of the year, we've sold 3 of them.
So what does this mean? If you're a Buyer, it's really simple: The pace of homes that are selling is quickening... dramatically. Granted, some of it may be due to the government's incentives, but so what? Houses are selling, and if you don't want to pay higher prices, the time to get in is now.
If you are a Seller, these numbers tell you that if you put your house on the market at a reasonable price, according to the state of today's market, not the market that existed back in the day, you can reasonably expect to sell your home. And that's something we simply couldn't say this time last year.
And lest we get too high and mighty with these numbers, let's look at one other number: California's unemployment rate rose to 12.6% last month, an all-time high. So while there may be cause to celebrate, let's remember we're not out of the woods yet.
Ever the optimist, however, we'll keep the champagne on ice for now.
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