In our last Market Update blog post, we compared our real estate market to the drought that we are in the midst of. That comparison is still appropriate. We received a very small amount of rain locally and a bit of snow in the mountains, but we’re still seriously lacking water.
Any change?
The same can be said for new inventory, in that we have seen a slight uptick over the last month, but we are still seriously lacking inventory. One of the biggest contributing factors to this shortage of available homes is the fear that people have of selling their home and finding themselves with no place to go and no homes to purchase. One of the ways that we try to mitigate this issue is by negotiating long rent back agreements that allow for a seller to remain in their home for several months after the closing, so they have time to find and secure a new home. Given the strong buyer’s market, negotiating these long rent backs has been relatively easy, as buyers are willing to make such agreements if it helps them in securing a home.
Let’s hope for the rain to come soon and for a lot more homes coming soon to the market!
Here’s a comparison of today’s inventory levels as compared to last month’s numbers:
Pleasanton: 30 (+9) – Dublin: 36 (+21) – San Ramon: 47 (+21)
Livermore: 61 (+22) – Danville: 47 (+20) – Alamo: 7 (no change)
Mortgage Rates
Rates have been very volatile with the recent invasion of Ukraine. Worried investors reacted by pulling money out of the stock market and seeking the relative safety of bonds, which caused the stock market to drop and rates to improve. We are starting to see a reversal of this as investors are regaining confidence in the stock market and selling bonds, thus causing rates to increase again. Despite the recent increase in rates, they remain at near historic lows. The increased rates have not slowed down the extremely strong buyer demand. It appears as though the higher rates have added to the buyer demand, as buyers are urgent to secure a home and lock in their rate before rates go up any higher.
That’s The Scoop for now. As always, feel free to reach out to any one of us here at Elation Real Estate. You’ll know where to find us… no compass needed!
All the best,
Your Elation Real Estate Team
written by Shawny Rivers, market master
