Fall is in the air. Maybe the sales bump we have been looking for may be coming. This is the first week since the spring that we had more offices increasing in sales activity than declining. This could bode well for the remainder of the year. Over half of our offices had multiple offer transactions, however the percentage of multiple offers to single offers have fallen off. The strongest multiple offer markets are in San Francisco and a few spots on the Peninsula. It gives further substantiation that we are in a balanced market for most of our locations.
Buyers are still singing that song "Time is on My Side", being cautious and deliberate before considering writing offers. Although for those properties that are priced competitively and fully prepared for the market, the buyers are singing a different song "How Sweet it Is", as it was for the Palo Alto home listed just under $1 mil. garnering 9 offers and going well over list price. We are also seeing that those sellers who readjust pricing are receiving positive results as they did in Fremont were a seller in the $600,000 price range reduced their price by $30,000 and entertained 3 offers and sold at the previous list price. Buyers are particularly price sensitive.
Open home activity is still active, especially for those homes open for the first time. Offers are taking longer to put together as buyers and sellers are negotiating over longer periods of time. It is important for sellers to continue dialogues with buyers as those that do are more successful of getting their homes into escrow. Interest rates continue to drop creating more opportunity for buyers. There are no guarantees that these rates will stay at these levels in the future. This should be a motivator for buyers as they want to take advantage of these rates.
Here are the numbers for the week: 9 offices reported increasing listing inventories, 16 steady and 3 decreasing---9 offices showed increasing sales inventory, 14 steady and 5 decreasing.
Avram Goldman
President and COO
Coldwell Banker SF/Bay Area
