Looking Back on Our 2018 Market and Looking Ahead to the Rest of 2019

What’s in store for our San Mateo market as we settle into 2019? To answer that question, let’s compare the year-over-year numbers from 2017 to 2018:

The number of new homes that came on the market rose from 4,723 to 5,029
Available inventory (at the end of the year) rose from 175 to 312 homes
The number of total home sales dropped from 4,241 to 4,099
The average days on market dropped from 23 days to 22 days
The average sale price for single-family homes rose from $1.75 million to $1.96 million
The median sale price rose from $1.44 million to $1.58 million
The median price per square foot rose from $866 to $953
The percentage of list price received rose from 108% to 109%
The total sales volume rose from roughly $7.4 billion to $8.05 billion

2018 started much in the same way that 2017 ended—as a very hot seller’s market. By the fourth quarter, however, things started to change. Here’s a year-over-year comparison of the fourth quarters of 2017 and 2018:

The number of new homes that came on the market rose from 832 to 891
Available inventory rose from 177 to 312 homes
The number of total home sales dropped from 1,091 to 1,025
The average days on market increased from 23 to 27 days
The average sales price rose from $1.8 million to $1.89 million
The median sales price rose from $1.5 million to $1.51 million
The median price per square foot rose from $892 to $928
The percentage of list price received dropped from 109% to 105%
The total sales volume dropped from $1.97 billion to $1.94 billion

Though the statistics definitely indicate a slowdown near the end of last year, we’re not in a recession. As it stands right now in 2019, it’s important to note that interest rates are very low. In fact, you can get a 30-year fixed mortgage rate for under 4%. If you’re a buyer, this is good news.

If you think you can’t afford to buy a new home because it’s too expensive, remember that prices may go down, but if interest rates go up at the same, your purchasing power remains the same.

I don’t have a crystal ball for the rest of 2019, but I can tell you that if you’re planning on buying or selling a home, we can get you the best deal possible.

If you have any more questions about our San Mateo market or you have any other real estate needs we can take care of, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We’d love to help you.