Anylan Report Update September 5, 2010

The big question in everyone's mind these days is, " How healthy will the fall real estate market be here in Marin County?" Lots of opinions on both sides of this issue - with statistics to back them up.  Remember Mark Twain's quote, " there are 3 kinds of lies; lies, damn lies, and statistics?"  One real estate firm here in Marin should get a kick out of that quote, in that their marketing appears to be based on what Stephen Colbert on the Colbert Show refers to as "truthiness", not the truth but some variation based on skewed statistics.

In 13 of Marin County cities and towns covered (the 13 largest markets in Marin) the statistics show home sales is up in 6 markets, down in 6, and  0 sales in Belvedere.   During the month of August there were 1129 homes on the market, and 381 condos compared to 1228 homes/325 condos on the market at this time last year. There were 287 homes in August that went under contract (and 78 for condos), that shows that this was the best August in 3 years.

The year to date "Sold" price average in Marin for homes is $1,044,953 compared to $980,113 at this time last year.  The average selling time (DOM/ days on Market) this year to date is 87 days versus 98 days at this ti;me last year.  The year to date "Sold" price average for Condos this year is $394,377 vs. $369,296 at this time last year. The graph below reflects the comination of Homes and Condos.



Fred Anylan is a real estate broker with Coldwell Banker in Greenbrae, and a regular contributor to this web site.