The stats are in for December so it’s time to look at the 2015 Marin housing market and how it compared to the years previous. The short answer is that the pattern continued: low inventory and rising prices. If anything, inventory levels were even lower than they had been, with last month having the fewest new listings and lowest months supply of inventory in years. In the chart below, the blue bars represent how many months it would take to sell the current supply of homes based on how quickly they are selling, and it’s down to less than a month for December, at the far right. That’s crazy low.
It was a combination of very few new listings and an uncommonly high amount of sales closing for what is typically a quieter month. In this chart you can see the dark green bar, representing closed sales, is higher than the Decembers previous, while the blue line, which is new listings, is lower than for any month across the three year span of the chart.
So basically, few new properties were coming on the market at the end of 2015 and buyers were snapping them up. We’ve been waiting for a few years now for the floodgates to open and for more new listings to come on the market in Marin and it just hasn’t happened, while demand has remained extremely strong. As long as those dynamics remain prices will continue to increase as buyers are forced to compete for homes. There are a number of things that could change this picture, including rising interest rates, a correction in the tech sector in SF, or the stock market and economy in general. With so many variables to watch it should be an interesting year ahead, and as always we’ll be here helping our clients navigate the complex Marin market.
If you have questions about what’s happening in Marin or would like market info tailored to your price range or area feel free to drop me a line at george@sfnorth.com.