"Some things never change. Thanksgiving week is and has been traditionally
a slower week and for good reason---it is a time to give thanks for
all of our wonderful abundance. Both new listings and sales were lackluster.
"Open house activity was mixed. Most found fewer buyers out and
about. However, a few areas particularly on parts of the Peninsula,
had good numbers through their opens.. The most active areas for sales
the past week were Berkeley, Palo Alto, parts of San Francisco, Menlo
Park, Monterey Peninsula, Novato and Oakland. Most of these areas had
the highest number of multiple offers---having between 40-100% of their
open escrows involved in multiple offers. Doesn’t sound like a
buyer’s market. All these areas, with few exceptions, have very
limited inventories. Menlo Park and Palo Alto have 2 months or less
of single family homes available. San Francisco is a little over 2 months.
The buyer demand is still alive and well. Buyers sense of urgency is
dependent on inventory levels. The record this week was in Santa Rosa.
A home listed at $ 385,000 had 15 offers, but sold just a little over
asking.
"Homes that are priced at market levels and staged properly are
selling most quickly. Others take longer accompanied by seller frustration
and a number of price reductions. Transactions are still taking longer
to negotiate in most markets and escrow periods are dotted with further
negotiations after reports are received. It is still a market that demands
patience.
"The public is becoming more and more irritated with the media,
particularly the SF Chronicle, which continues to bludgeon the real
estate market with doom and gloom. Consumers no longer believe it. I
have attached a Letter to the Editor from a doctor in Tiburon.
"Activity has seemed to have picked up after the holiday weekend,
but we will discuss this next week.
"The numbers for the week of Nov. 20th-26th are as follows: 5
offices reported increasing listing inventories, 8 steady and 10 decreasing---3
offices showed increasing sales activity, 11 steady and 18 decreasing."
Avram Goldman
President and COO
Coldwell Banker SF/Bay Area
