March 30, 2008

Sub $1 Million Club Forming in Novato and San Rafael

It seems that there is a lot of activity in the Marin market this week, as Spring is now officially here. A total of 36 homes went into contract this week. If the rest of March was like the past week, it will be on pace to have just under 150 homes being sold, which would be up from 122 and 136 homes in January and February.

One interesting, but not surprising stat is the two clubs that appear to be forming in Marin County—a sub $1 million club and a $1 million plus club. Those buying below one million were the perpetrators of most of the contracts, 22 out of the 36. And where are they finding these sub $ 1 mil homes? Yep, San Rafael and Novato—the two Marin cities known to be way more affordable than the picture-perfect southern Marin towns. Of these 22 in contract, 9 each were in San Rafael and Novato. The remaining 4 were southern Marin outliers - a condo in MV, a fixer in Larkspur, etc.

So…what does this all mean? My take on this is that most of Marin is STILL oh-so expensive. The average Mill Valley asking price is $1,375,000 while Novato is more than HALF that at $649,000. While a bit higher at $789,000, San Rafael is still nowhere near places like Corte Madera, at just over a mil.

I know all counties have their exclusive enclaves and then the other area on the “other side of the tracks.” As the income and wealth gap in the US keeps growing, it looks like there is one widening too in Marin.