There’s more evidence that the housing market is cooling off.
According to a survey by Prudential California Realty, single-family homes are staying on the market longer, and the number of homes sold is down from last year, based on a comparison of activity in the first quarters of 2006 and 2005.
That’s not to say that bargain hunters and first-time home-buyers are going to find any great deals. Prices in most cities are still going up, although in some cases, not by very much.
Atherton, for example, saw only a 1 percent increase in median price — $3.05 million — based on the sale of 11 homes in the first three months of 2006. That’s half as many homes as were sold in 2005, and the houses spent an average of 51 days on the market before selling, five more than during the same period last year.
In Woodside, homes took an average of 75 days to sell, 17 days longer than in 2005. However, the median price of $2.15 million was up 6 percent over last year, and the number of sales (18) was down only 10 percent from 2005.
In Portola Valley, the only thing that was up was the number of days houses spent on the market — 49 days this year, compared with 46 days last year.
The median price of $1.8 million represents a 14 percent drop from last year, based on data from the 12 homes that were sold. During the first quarter of 2005, 19 homes sold with a median price of $2.1 million.
Menlo Park showed the biggest gain in median price — $1.4 million, a 13 percent increase from the 2005 median of $1.24 million. Seventy-four homes sold during the first quarter of 2006, down from 101 homes sold in 2005’s first quarter. The average number of days on the market was 35 this year, compared with 24 days last year.
Nevertheless, the housing market in San Mateo County remains firmly in the seller’s favor, according to John Finnegan, the broker/owner of the four Prudential California Realty offices in the county. However, he said, the softening of the market is encouraging for buyers.
“The market is rebalancing and as it stands, there are increasing opportunities for buyers,” Mr. Finnegan said in a press release. “Last year the real estate market was moving too fast and we are now seeing signs of a slower and healthier market.”
While the sale of single-family homes is slowing, the condominium market in San Mateo County appears to be thriving. The number of condos sold in the first quarter of 2006 was up 12 percent over the same time period last year, and the median price rose 7 percent to $512,000.
However, even condos are taking longer to sell, spending an average of 38 days on the market this year, as opposed to 19 days on the market last year.
