Home Prices Hold their Own as New Listings Flood the Market
There has been a rush of new listings on the Berkeley market this past couple of weeks. On one day alone I counted 11 newly listed homes in my Redfin update email.
My assumption is that people are getting their houses out there before the winter sets in. The economic meltdown will also be playing a part — if you’ve lost your job or a huge slice of your pension has been wiped off the slate, downsizing on your home and stashing some cash under your mattress sounds like a good idea right now.
It will be of some comfort to home sellers to know that, at least over the past month or so, prices are holding their own in the city. Check out Bob Blumberg’s monthly sales report for August and look closely at the “list price versus sales price” percentages — a majority are comfortably close to 100%, with many in excess of that.
The tables below show two weeks’ worth of homes sold in Berkeley in September (weeks ending 21 and 28).
Let’s look at how these homes fared in terms of ticket versus closing price:
10% UP: 699 Hilldale Avenue, a 2/1 1930s home with inner courtyard and partial views, sold for $810,000 on a list price of $735,000.
2% DOWN: 3122 Eton Avenue (pictured right), a brown-shingle duplex with 2+/1 upstairs and 3/1 down and a two-car garage, sold for $1,170,000 on a list price of $1,198,000.
8% UP: 76 Plaza Drive, a 1961 3-bed one-level in a pricey neighborhood, sold for $1,285,000 on a list price of $1,195,000
SPOT ON: 1481 Campus Drive, a 3/2 mid-century “livable light fixer” in the north Berkeley hills, did take almost a year to sell, but it went for $750,000 on a list price of $749,000.
12% DOWN: 1531 Oregon Street, a 3/2, 1,294 sq ft home, sold for $350,000 on an asking price of $399,000.
3% DOWN: 1357 Northside, a 3-bed home unfortunately associated with a heartbreaking family murder, perhaps understandably, sold for $599,000 on a list price of $620,000.
