I get asked this question numerous times a day, but it is a tough one to answer. What information are you really looking for? Do you want number for all of Marin, or just Southern Marin? Mill Valley single family homes or Kentfield too?

For all Marin County single family homes, overall supply and demand are down compared to November 2006. The number of homes going under contract and closing escrow are down almost 25% countywide. While November is normally a slow month, this November has been particularly slow.

The MSI (Months Supply of Inventory) is up to 4.7 compared to 3.9 in November 2006. This number is still very low compared to the majority of the country. (Click on the chart to expand it)

What’s next? I anticipate a slow December with a sharp increase in activity in the early part of next year.

Stay tuned for Marin County city specific real estate updates.

What’s happening in Marin real estate?

As expected, activity was S.L.O.W. this week with the Thanksgiving holiday. Only a few brave souls put their houses on their market, while a large number went off the market. A big question for sellers right now is to stay on the market or put it back on after the holidays. For the stale, old listings that aren’t getting much activity, many may come off the market with the hopes of being “fresh” in the new year.

The numbers below reflect activity from Saturday, November 17-Saturday, November 24 for Marin residential real estate (includes condominiums).

*Information pulled from BAREIS MLS.
(November 17 5:01 pm -November 24 5:00 pm)

What’s happening in Marin real estate?

The numbers below reflect activity from Saturday, November 10-Saturday, November 17 for Marin residential real estate (includes condominiums).

Activity slowed substantially over the previous week. This is to be expected as we near Thanksgiving and a shortened week. The number of new listings dropped off – 58 new listings as compared to 68 in the same time period the previous week. The number of price reductions also dropped from 89 to 68. Sales were up , reflecting the activity occurring in October that is now closing escrow.

After Thanksgiving, I would expect to see more price reductions as people try to sell before the New Year. This week will be a quiet one for real estate in Marin County!

*Information pulled from BAREIS MLS.
(November 10 5:00pm -November 17 5:00pm)

October sales charts are in! The months supply of inventory (MSI) for all residential Marin real estate was down to five months as compared to eight months county-wide in September . This means that if no more homes go on the market, it would take 5 months to sell the existing listings at the current sales pace.

In October 2006, the county-wide MSI was 4.9, so very little change over last year. Sort of surprising- based on what we are hearing, you would think it would be higher.

So why the change? Buyers uncertain about the market in August jumped off the fence where they have been waiting and starting writing offers again. The number of listings was higher in October than in September, but we saw significantly more Marin County homes go into contract and sell. 207 homes went into contract in October as compared to only 143 in September. Lots more activity happening!

Despite the improvement from September to October, overall demand was down as compared to October 2006. Marin saw a 34% decrease in the number of units sold in October 2007 as compared to 2006. The median price was up 8.43% over October last year.