Marin Real Estate Market's Precipitous Growth Slows Slightly in August

The Marin real estate market's precipitous uptick slowed a bit in August, with the number of homes sold rising just 4 percent year over year after five months of double-digit growth, and the median home price dropping more than 7 percent from July, according to a real estate information service.

Marin’s median home price in August was $760,000, up 19.9 percent from $634,000 in August 2012 and down 7.1 percent from $818,000 in July and down 5.2 percent from $802,000 in June, according to San Diego-based DataQuick. The median home price in Marin has risen by double-digit percentages in each of the past six months over the same period a year ago.

While the median home price in Marin continued its steep year-over-year growth, the number of homes sold slowed. DataQuick reported that 355 homes sold in Marin in August, up 4.1 percent from 341 a year ago but down 15.5 percent from 420 homes sold in July.

For detached single-family homes, Marin's median home price in August $895,000, up 10.1 percent from a year ago and down 2.1 percent from $914,000 in July. There were 275 single-family homes sold in Marin in August, up 6.2 percent from 259 a year ago and down 15.6 percent from July.

The median price for condos in Marin was $395,000 in August, up 19.8 percent from $330,000 a year ago and down 20.3 percent from $475,000 in July. There were 79 condos sold in Marin in August, up 3.9 percent from 76 a year ago and down 15 percent from 93 sold in July.

Those trends bore out across the nine-county Bay Area, where the median price continued to rise while the number of homes sold dipped. The median price paid for a home in the Bay Area last month was $540,000, down 3.9 percent from $562,000 in July and up 31.7 percent from $410,000 in August a year ago. Solano County saw the biggest jumping in median price, rising more than 46 percent from $190,000 in August 2012 to $277,500 last month.

(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 attributed the continued spike in median price and the dip in homes sold to a seasonal trend, saying there are still imbalances in the sales mix and purchase patterns, indicating that the market continues to normalize incrementally.

“As the market pendulum swings back toward normal, trends will be affected by more mundane market factors such as interest rates, employment, economic growth, affordability, mortgage availability, and how fast demand is generated and met," John Walsh, DataQuick president, said in a statement. "The next few months are going to be interesting, especially when it comes to pricing trends."

Investors and all-cash buyers continued to hold a major presence in the Bay Area market in August, as absentee buyers – mostly investors – purchased 21 percent of all Bay Area homes in July, up slightly from 20.5 percent in July, and down from 22.8 percent a year ago.

Buyers who appear to have paid all cash – meaning no sign of a corresponding purchase loan was found in the public record – accounted for 22.4 percent of sales in August.

For more info on the Bay Area real estate market, visit DataQuick.