Marin Home Sales and Median Price Soar in July

The Marin real estate market continued to soar in July, with both the number of homes sold and the median home price jumping by double-digit percentages for the fifth consecutive month compared to the same period in 2012, according to a real estate information service.

Marin’s median home price in July was $818,000, up 24 percent from $660,000 in July 2012 and up 2 percent from $802,000 in June, according to San Diego-based DataQuick. For detached single-family homes, Marin's median home price in July was $914,500, up 16 percent from $787,500 in July 2012, while the median price for condos in Marin was $475,000 in July, up more than 48 percent from $320,000 a year ago.

Despite the continued rise in prices, home sales in Marin also maintained a steep upward trajectory, jumping more than 24 percent from 338 homes sold in July 2012 to 420 homes sold in July, DataQuick reported.

Those trends bore out across the nine-county Bay Area, where the median price rose to $562,000 in July, up nearly 34 percent from $421,000 in July 2012 and up 1.3 percent in June, DataQuick reported. The median home price rose by at least 14 percent in all nine Bay Area counties, according to DataQuick, with Contra Costa County recording the highest jump at 43 percent.

The total number of homes solid in the Bay Area in July – 9,339 single-family homes and condos – was the highest level of any month in nearly 7 months, according to DataQuick, and up 18.3 percent from 7,897 in June.

(Note: The chart above reflects median home price for all homes – both detached single-family homes and condos/townhouses – across the nine-county Bay Area.)

DataQuick officials said the ongoing spike is simple: the burst of activity reflects pent-up demand meeting an increasing supply of homes for sale.

“There’s all this talk of a frenzy, but the fact is that we’re still looking at a Bay Area housing market that is in the process of re balancing itself, regaining lost ground. As prices continue to rise, more homes will be put up for sale, easing the upward price pressure,” DataQuick President John Walsh said in a statement.

Investors and all-cash buyers continued to hold a major presence in the Bay Area market in July, as absentee buyers – mostly investors – purchased 21 percent of all Bay Area homes in July. That was down from previous months, with DataQuick officials reporting that the percentage of absentee buyers peaked in February at 28.7 percent. 

Buyers who appear to have paid all cash – meaning no sign of a corresponding purchase loan was found in the public record – accounted for 24 percent of sales in July.