We’ve been posting for a while now about how hot the Marin housing has market has become, and how we need more sellers to bring homes on to satisfy the incredible demand. All of last year we saw low inventory and lots of buyers competing for those few homes for sale. Well, it’s gotten even crazier so far this year. We haven’t seen anything like this since 2005, and even then I’m not sure it felt quite like this. The whole county is experiencing the effects of the high demand and low inventory, but in especially popular areas like Corte Madera and Greenbrae it’s getting kind of ridiculous.
In Greenbrae for example, as of this writing there are zero active listings for sale. None! There are five properties in escrow, and a few have closed so far this year, but if you’re shopping for a home there right now you’re probably frustrated, and with good reason. Corte Madera has had a little more inventory, but with exceptions here and there everything is selling right away, with up to twenty offers in some cases. And looking a little farther north, just this week we’ve seen homes in San Rafael and Novato receive nine offers each.
Here’s a look at the absorption rate for all residential properties in Marin County, which is a good measure of how hot the market is. It’s measured as the percentage of the active listings that go into escrow per month, and it was up to a whopping 68.6% in January. That’s compared to 36.7% one year ago, and 15.2% back in January 2010.
This means that by definition prices are actually going up rather quickly, as each home that closes substantially over the asking price becomes a new comp for the next listing. It can’t go on forever, and a surge of new inventory this Spring will hopefully even things out a little, but for the moment we are in one of the hottest, most competitive markets Marin County has ever seen. It’s certainly great for sellers, but overall a little more balance would be nice.