3440 Torlano Court is a beautiful home in the Ruby Hill community. It went into contract in just 18 days with several very strong offers presented.

The Pleasanton real estate market has been very active over the past few months, with many properties receiving multiple offers. Even in the high end market, like Ruby Hill, activity is picking up.

Are thinking about selling? Contact me for a complimentary market analysis and price evaluation of your home. Maybe it’s the right time for you to sell.

Pleasanton Real Estate Market Update for August 2009

Sales Activity Is Very Strong

August 2009 Pleasanton Single Family Home Sales are up 48% from August 2008.

 The charts below show the sales activity for Pleasanton single family homes since January 1^st, 2009.

Starting in April 2009, the average monthly sales activity is 71 homes per month.

As you can see, homes sales doubled in the 2^nd quarter of 2009 and posted the strongest quarterly sales activity since the 2^nd quarter of 2007. 

Inventory Is On Steady Downward Trend

The inventory of single family homes for sale has dropped 37% since August of 2008.

The chart below shows the inventory level at the end of each month for Pleasanton single family homes since January 2009.

With the pace of sales for August 2009 at 77 homes, the unsold inventory index stands at 2.2 months of inventory.  This is the amount of time it would take to sell through the current inventory of 169 homes.  This number is considered to be very low.                                                               

Commentary

With the high sales activity and low inventory levels, it would be tempting to call this a sellers’ market.  However there is no evidence of any improvement on pricing levels. The median sales price for August 2009 of $706,500 for Pleasanton is down 3.22% from $730,000 for August of 2008.  Of the 126 homes currently reported as “pending” or under contract 52 of the 126 are either short sale properties or REO properties.  Short sale properties are homes being sold by the current owner where the home’s value is less than the amount owed.  The owner attempts to negotiate with the bank to accept less than the amount owed in order to avoid foreclosure.  REO properties are homes being sold by the bank that has taken a property through a foreclosure process.  The 52 properties represent 41%of all the current “pendings”. In other words 4 out of every 10 sales currently under contract represent a distress sale.  

No one knows what lies ahead, but looking at the current supply of homes for sale there is some bright news.  Of the 167 homes currently for sale as of 9/14/2009, only 11(or 6.5%) and 3(or 1.8%) are distress sales for a total of 14 or 8.3% of the total of 167. An abundance of distressed properties in a market can bring values down. For now, Pleasanton has a very limited number of distress sales and that has kept property values from free falling as much as we have seen in communities like Brentwood and Hayward.

Mid Year Market Update/January 2009-June 2009

The Pleasanton Real Estate Market has seen a surge of activity in sales of single family homes.  The 2^nd quarter of 2009 ended with 205 sales, the highest number of quarterly sales activity since the 2^nd quarter of 2007. Sales for the quarter were up 114% over the 1^st quarter of this year. 

At the same time the inventory of homes for sale is trending downward.  Normally inventory tends to increase on a seasonal basis between the 1^st and 2^nd quarter.  This year the inventory has dropped from 237 homes for sale at the end of the 1^st quarter to 213 homes at the end of the 2^nd quarter.   As of this writing (7/29/2009) the inventory level has dropped to 186 while sales for the month of July has reached 75 with two days remaining in the month.

For the 2^nd quarter short sales and REO properties represented a significant percentage of the total sales with short sales coming in at 36 or 18% of the total of 205 and REO properties coming in at 15 or 17% of the total of 205.  Combined distress sales accounted for 25% of the total sales activity.  For the month of July that percentage is down to 19%.  Of the current inventory of available homes for sale (186) there are 14 showing as short sales and 2 as REO sales for a combined total of 9%.  The number of distress sales appears to be shrinking for the moment.

The National Association of Realtors reports today that homes sales nation wide rose 6.7 percent in April, that’s up over 3% compared April of 2008. Click here to read the whole article.

Housing affordability and record low mortgage rates have contributed to a surge in sales. Additionally, the first time home buyer tax credit of $8000 was a tipping point for many buyers who may have still been on the fence. And since first-time buyers must finalize their home purchase by November 30 to get the tax credit, greater activity in the months ahead is very realistic.

A recent change in the use of the $8000 credit may also help to generate continued home sales. Last week, HUD announced that qualifying buyers can use the tax credit for closing costs on FHA loans, to buy down the interest rate or to make a larger down payment.  This is a significant change that could really have an impact on the consumer’s buying power.

Pleasanton real estate sales also saw a surge during the month of May. 74 homes went into contract, up significantly from 25 sales in February and 44 sales in March of this year.

Just listed and debuting on the market tomorrow!

5517 Paseo Navarro is a beautifully upgraded single story home in the Del Prado neighborhood. Priced at $685,000, this home has a gourmet style kitchen with granite counters and Brazilian hardwood flooring.

Click here to tour this property.

469 Kottinger Drive is a custom built home on an oversize premium lot with breathtaking views. Boasting over 3300 square feet of living space, this home has been upgraded with many special features.

Click here to tour this property.

Both homes are close to our historic downtown, top rated schools, and nearby freeway access.

An Open House for both homes will be held on Sunday, 4/24 from 1pm-4pm.