"Finally, the diet is kicking in----inventories are shrinking.
Forty percent of our offices reported diminishing inventories and only
eighteen percent reported inventories increasing. The rest were steady.
Those sellers that do not have a pressing need to sell are either staying
put or leasing their homes.
"San Francisco and the Peninsula overall have seen a boost in
sales. Twelve of fifteen offices reported having multiple offers. Some
as high as 50%. We are noticing a modest fall surge. This also includes
Sonoma County which has come to life. Sellers have become more accustomed
to what it takes to sell. Pricing and preparation are keys. Two-thirds
of our offices experienced multiple offers over the past week. In the
Ingleside district of San Francisco a listing priced at $549,000 had
20 offers and went well over asking. The East Bay still remains a bit
sluggish, as well as the Monterey Peninsula.
"Buyers are out in force. An open home in Ladera had over 100
groups. Buyers are still not making quick decisions, but they seem more
poised to make offers. Transactions take longer to put together and
require more work to keep together. Patience is a virtue to creating
a sale. The upper end appears to be warming up. We had a $5 million
sale in our Menlo Park Santa Cruz office.
"Have we stabilized? Has the market found equilibrium? Only time
will tell. The last two months of 2005 slowed. If the next two months
exceed open sales from last year there may be a marked shift. Keep tuned.
"The numbers for the week are as follows: 5 offices showed increasing
inventories, 14 steady and 12 decreasing---sales activity looked like
this 6 offices increasing, 18 steady and 7 decreasing."
Avram Goldman
President and COO
Coldwell Banker SF/Bay Area
