Bay Area California Real Estate Blog and News

Three of the Latest Reports Show Housing Market Is Strong

The residential real estate market is remaining resilient as the country still struggles to beat the COVID-19 pandemic. Three separate reports recently revealed how the housing market is still showing growth. Here's a look at each one.

1. Ivy Zelman's Real Estate Broker Survey

The survey explains that purchaser demand remains strong:

This month's overall homebuyer demand rating…was easily the strongest sequential gain in our survey history…Strength continues to be led by the entry-level…While high-end demand is less robust in an absolute sense, there has also been relative improvement, with contacts attributing incremental improvement to the stock market's rebound, record low mortgage rates and luxury customers trading...

Home Sales Hit a Record-Setting Rebound

Home Sales Hit a
Record-Setting Rebound | MyKCM

With a worldwide health crisis that drove a pause in the economy this year, the housing market was greatly impacted. Many have been eagerly awaiting some bright signs of a recovery. Based on the latest Existing Home Sales Report from the National Association of Realtors (NAR), June hit a much-anticipated record-setting rebound to ignite that spark.

According to ...

155 Canal Street, #19 San Rafael CA 94901 - Just Listed

155 Canal Street, #19 View of Mt. Tam

155 Canal Street, #19 is a 2 bedroom, 2 full bath top  floor condominium with a spacious deck and view of Mt. Tamalpais! Complex is gated and well maintained and includes a large sparkling pool + community center + picnic area.

Large Sparkling Pool

Home was painted with neutral tones and has new carpet, new window coverings - ready for next owner to enjoy. One bedroom is en suite. Plenty of closet space with an extra storage closet on the ground floor. #19 comes with a covered parking spot inside the gates.

Virtually staged living room ...

Thinking of Selling Your House? Now May be the Right Time

Thinking of Selling Your
House? Now May be the Right Time | MyKCM

Inventory is arguably the biggest challenge for buyers in today's housing market. There are simply more buyers actively looking for homes to purchase than there are sellers selling them, so the scale is tipped in favor of the sellers.

According to the latest Existing Home Sales Report from the National Association of Realtors (NAR), total housing inventory...

Does Your Home Have What Buyers Are Looking For?

Does Your Home Have What
Buyers Are Looking For? | MyKCM

There's great opportunity for today's homeowners to sell their houses and make a move, yet due to the impact of the ongoing health crisis, some sellers are taking their time coming back to the market. According to Javier Vivas, Director of Economic Research at realtor.com:

Sellers continue returning to the market at a cautious pace and further improvement could be constrained by lingering coronavirus concerns, economic uncertainty, and civil unrest.

...

What Are Experts Saying about Home Prices?

What Are Experts Saying about
Home Prices? | MyKCM

Last week, a very well-respected real estate analytics firm surprised many with their home price projection for the next twelve months. CoreLogic, in their latest Home Price Index said:

The economic downturn that started in March 2020 is predicted to cause a 6.6% drop in the HPI by May 2021, which would be the first...

Best Time to Sell? When Competition Is at an All-Time Low

Best Time to Sell? When
Competition Is at an All-Time Low | MyKCM

In a recent survey of home sellers by Qualtrics, 87% of respondents said they were concerned their home won't sell because of the pandemic and resulting economic recession. Of the respondents, 51% said they are seriously worried. That concern seems reasonable considering the current condition of the economy. The data, however, is showing that home purchasers are still very active despite the disruptions...

Taking Advantage of Homebuying Affordability in Today's Market

Everyone is ready to buy a home at a different time in their lives, and a health crisis or not, today is no exception. Understanding how affordability works and the main market factors that impact it may help those who are ready to buy a home narrow down their optimal window of time to make a purchase.

There are three main factors that go into determining how affordable homes are for buyers:

  1. Mortgage Rates
  2. Mortgage Payments as a Percentage of Income
  3. Home Prices

The National Association of Realtors (NAR), produces a Housing Affordability Index, which takes these three factors into account and determines an overall affordability score for housing. According to NAR, the index:...

Is the Health Crisis Driving Buyers Out of Urban Areas?

The pandemic has caused consumers to re-examine the components that make up the perfect home. Many families are no longer comfortable with the locations and layouts of their existing homes. The allure of city life (more congested) seems to be giving way to either suburban or rural life (less congested). The fascination with an open floor plan seems to be fading as people are finding a need for more privacy while working from home.

Recently, news.com released a report that revealed how buyers' views of listings are leaning heavily to more suburban and rural properties. Here are the year-over-year percentage increases in views per property type:

  • Urban – 7%
  • Suburban – 13%
  • Rural – 16%...

A Historic Rebound for the Housing Market

A Historic Rebound for the
Housing Market | MyKCM

Pending Home Sales increased by 44.3% in May, registering the highest month-over-month gain in the index since the National Association of Realtors (NAR) started tracking this metric in January 2001. So, what exactly are pending home sales, and why is this rebound so important?

According to NAR, the Pending Home Sales Index (PHS) is:

A leading indicator of housing activity, measures housing contract activity, and is based on signed real estate contracts for existing single-family...