For this blog post I pulled data for both the low end properties (less than $150,000 sales price) and the high end properties ($1,000,000 plus sales price) in Walnut Creek. I found some interesting data and I will give you my take on it.
Low end sales are down from last year. As I have shown in a previous blog post, bank owned sales are down also. Last year we saw quite a bit on the very low end coming from distressed sales.
Of the 87 distressed sales and 113 total Sales –
- 47 were Bank Owned
- 40 were Short-Sales
This year we do not have near the low end inventory, most of it has been cleared. Currently there are 0 homes for sale under $150k and only 8 pending. Regular (non-distressed) sales do not have to compete with near as many distressed properties. We (our team) have notice a large increase in the number of buyers also. The two combined have made prices rise substantially in the lower end.
Now on to the upper end of Walnut Creek homes for sale. The million dollar plus market.
Since 2008 the high end has suffered. There were many factors involved but one that stands out in my mind (besides the general deflation) is that would be move-up buyers are stuck in their homes. They have good jobs that pay well but are under water in their current homes by a couple hundred thousand. The banks (until recently) have not been allowing them to short-sell their homes. Few buyer = Few Sales
This year it’s still too soon to call. We don’t have a significant amount of data to say which way it’s going yet (26 sales so far this year vs. 30 last year at this time). There are several indicators that the high end is coming back. One of them being the presence of multiple offers and all cash offers in order to win those multiple offer situations. The other being the increase in total sales as well as median and average prices.
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