Marin Ends 2007 on a Low

As the holidays were in full swing last month, the one thing that wasn’t feeling so festive and jolly were home sales in Marin.  Today, the MarinIJ reported the latest round up of home sales data, released by DataQuick.  The stats are gloomy –  sales hit rock bottom and were the lowest on record low since sales DataQuick started tracking sales stats in 1988.   Gulp.

In December, an anemic 143 single-family homes swtiched hands to new owners, a 31% drop from the same time in 2006, where 208 homes were sold.  Relative to the November 2007  sales figures, when 160 homes sold - it’s a 10% slowdown from the prior month. 

And while I hate to report about the median, because I don’t think it’s all that informative – I’ll still share the data, just because everyone is use to seeing it.  $835,750 was the median price for a single family home in the last month.  This is a 14.3% drop from the month prior, when the median was reported at $975,000.  (See why I don’t like the median?   That’s a drop of ~$145K!).  Compared with the same time in 2006, it is a modest 2.3% decline from that month’s median of $855,000.

 With Marin’s high median prices, the costs of the jumbo loans are thought to be partly to blame.  Typically, 80% of loans made for Marin home purchases are done with jumbo loans.  Last month, jumbo loans only amounted to just half of the loans originated.   I definitely think this is a huge factor…

As the weather gets better, it will be interesting to see if this is a seasonal holiday dip or part of an overall trend.  My bet – a larger slowing trend and just more evidence of hesitation even amongst Marin buyers.  What’s your take?