As we approach the Spring season, many are wondering what the year holds in store for our local real estate market, and the initial indicators are that it’s going to be a busy year.
The statistics at the end of last month showed the local real estate inventory at 143 homes, down by over 18% from the previous January, while sales were up by over 18% over the same period. This has largely kept the high interest rates from driving prices down as had been expected, with Average Sold prices running at 99% of List Price.
As a general rule, our housing market tends to follow the housing market in Silicon Valley, and a quick snapshot of MLS activity for the past 30 days shows that things are very active over there, with Average Sold price running at 8% over List Price and the number of Days on Market down at 17. This bodes well for anyone planning to sell their home in the current market, while for our clients who are looking for a place it indicates that it could be a challenging and competitive environment.
At the street level, we have noticed an increase in the number of open house visitors and showings at our listings of The Dwellings that we are marketing in Soquel, compared to the relatively slow activity we were getting just last month. We have also seen it in the form of multiple interested parties in our two developable lots listed nearby, that come with ready-to-build plans.
In other activity, we received multiple offers before selecting an all-cash buyer on a little building we listed on lower 41st Ave that was priced at what we thought was a premium. This reflects a strong level of current demand for smaller properties in desirable locations. And in the wake of our last escrow that fell apart, we are reviewing 3 new offers on the Bayview Hotel in Aptos this week. Next week, on the Eastside of Santa Cruz, we are scheduled to close escrow on the sale of a restaurant along with the real estate that never even made it to the open market. And another client of ours on the Westside is scheduled to get the keys this weekend for their 4-plus year lease of a warehouse space. Based on each of these experiences, by our observation the commercial market is showing healthy activity across the board as well.
One of the challenges in a market like this is finding available properties to meet the demand. Therefore, to improve our clients’ chances for success we have added several newer agents to our team who have the bandwidth to track down possible matches to our client’s needs before they are openly listed. This sometimes takes the shape of mailing out letters, knocking on doors and leveraging our working relationships with other agents across town to provide the broadest range of options possible.
What it comes down to in the end is that you don’t want to have anyone settle for less than what they set out for. The rest is what is involved in getting them there.
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