Upper-End Home Values Remain High
(or what they're not telling you in the news!)
One of the frustrating things about statistics for our current market is that the information about sales and prices that is available to the general public is always presented over too large a geographical area, and/or blends price statistics from the lower, middle, and upper price ranges of a particular area, averaging out the gains made in some areas by combining them with the declines we’ve seen in others. This can falsely make the local market look worse than it actually is. To provide some clarity, I have pulled out data from the MLS to show what has been happening in the local market for the upper price range of homes, in those specific areas of interest to my clients.
The charts below show the sales prices of upper-end homes, relative to the peak of the market, over the past five years. The take-home message is that while the number of sales is down from the frenzied peak in 2006, the sales prices have held up quite well. Montclair is at its highest point since 2004, and North Berkeley is down only 1.7%! Kensington, Piedmont, El Cerrito, and Orinda are all down only 3-4% from their peaks, and most of the rest of the areas are down by only 7-9%. So contrary to what you might hear on the evening news or read in the paper, our current real estate market is alive and well! Please contact me if I can be of assistance with any of your real estate needs.
Dan Suich, Realtor PBG Real Estate dan.suich@pbgrealestate.com (510) 910-7265
