While it’s interesting to look at trends in the county overall, you get a much more useful picture when you get more specific about just exactly what sort of property you’re talking about. Continuing with some more market stats, we can see there continues to be a dramatic disparity between areas and price segments in Marin County.
Here’s a look at the percentages of Marin properties that entered escrow the last two months by city/town. Convention says these percentages determine the state of the market in that segment, for example 10% or below is considered a strong buyer’s market, while 31%-35% represents a balanced market. Those designations are somewhat arbitrary, but they are useful. Towns like Corte Madera, Fairfax, and Greenbrae remain relatively active, with the supply of homes and demand from buyers somewhat balanced, while buyers in Belvedere and Kentfield are in a much stronger bargaining position since there is so much inventory compared to the number of sales happening.
And here’s a look at activity by price range, where we continue to see a big difference between the entry level segment and higher end luxury homes. For example, only 1 of the 48Â listings priced at $5,000,000 or more went into escrow in October, while more than a third of those listed at $500,000 or below found buyers. This is why there has been some stability in prices in the lower ranges, while luxury properties continue to take a hit.
These stats bear out what we’re experiencing anecdotally in the lower price segments. Accurately priced, well prepared homes in desirable areas are selling, and the inventory is drying up as we head into the holidays. This may be a tough time to sell that $8,000,000 mansion in Belvedere, but maybe not such a bad time to sell a charming $800,000 home in San Anselmo or Fairfax.