3/2/2020 - 3/8/2020

Last week, Freddie Mac registered a 3.29% 30-year fixed mortgage rate, the lowest rate since they they started the survey in 1971.  This comes after growing concerns about the economic effects of the coronavirus and a corresponding Fed rate cut.  It is contrasted by a plummeting stock market, which saw the Dow down by over 1,400 and the S&P sink 5% in the openings minutes of trading this morning.  

Despite the significant stock market woes, buyers seem to be (at least for the time being) buoyed by these historically low mortgage rates.  18 single-family homes went into contract in Redwood City last week, sending out inventory back down into the 30's.  Meanwhile, our closed sales were on the market for an average of just 13 days, and with a sizable sample size of 12 sales, registered a whopping $2.79 million average sales price.  

I would expect to see mortgage rates stay at record lows throughout these current stock market struggles.  What will be interesting to see, is whether these low rates persist after the stock market shows signs of recovery, and how that will impact buyer activity.

2/24/2020 - 3/1/2020

With the exception of 10 listings that have been on the market since the holidays, there has been great turnover in the Redwood City real estate market so far this year.  If you remove those 10 listings from the equation, the average age of our active inventory is only 12.5 days.  This is the result of strong demand that has likely been fueled to a degree by very low mortgage rates.  Rates continue to trend toward historic lows, and with fears about the Coronavirus growing, the Fed is contemplating another rate cut.  Should this occur, we could see even further dips in mortgage rates.  

In the meantime, everyone has their eyes on the stock market after it saw its worst week since the 2008 financial crisis.  Where the Coronavirus is helping the real estate market by driving mortgage rates down, it could be hurting it just as much by taking money out of the pockets of would-be buyers who are heavily invested in the stock market.

2/17/2020 - 2/23/2020

A huge week for new listings gives us our first major inventory surge of the year.  23 homes were listed for sale last week, bringing our supply of single-family homes for sale up to 50.  This will be a welcome sight for buyers, whose demand has been keeping pace with supply so far this year.  

These next few weeks will be key to see just how strong buyer activity is.  Is a higher inventory level is sustained, we may begin to see a longer average days on market total, which is already hovering around a month.

2/3/2020 - 2/9/2020

This was a huge week for Redwood City in terms of new listings, with 21 new single-family homes listed for sale.  Yet, inventory once again failed to grow - due to 13 pending sales, an expired listing, and 7 contingent sales (which aren't reflected in pending numbers).  This week's data continues to support the idea that buyers are staying highly active in Redwood City.  

Only 2 closed sales this past week, and one of the sales seems to have been inputted into the MLS improperly, so our sales data is quite skewed.  1238 Connecticut Drive is sold for $1,950,000 after just one day on the market.  MLS shows is as a 980 square foot home, which would have meant that it closed at nearly $2,000 per square foot, a completely unprecedented number.  Upon closer review, it looks like that home actually underwent a significant renovation with a 1,000 square foot add on, bringing its actual price per square foot number closer to $1,000.  Just goes to show - you can't always take the stats at face value!

1/27/2020 - 2/2/2020

From 1 closed sale last week to 3 this week.  Small sample sizes limit our ability to make many meaningful inferences from the sales data.  Still, nothing terribly surprising from our prices.

Inventory has been fairly anemic so far in 2020.  This time last year there were nearly twice as many single-family homes for sale in Redwood City.  This is due in part to steady buyer activity, but is also likely reflective of sellers looking at the market with some uncertainty.  A slow end to 2019 could have some sellers waiting until Spring time, when the market typically heats up a bit, to list their homes for sale.

1/21/2019 - 1/26/2019

Alas, only 1 solitary sale closed this past week, rendering our average sales data for the week effectively null.  It's not all that surprising to see the sample size for closed sales to dwindle this time of year, since sales that are closing right now likely would have gone into contract during the holidays - a time that we've established sees a precipitous drop in real estate activity in general.

Our buyers continue to snatch up homes about as quickly as our sellers list them for sale.  The next few weeks of sales will start to tell us whether or not competition among buyers has been putting any upward pressure on prices.

1/13/2019 - 1/20/2019

We saw a spike in new listings leading up to the long weekend, but due to 7 pending sales and 5 cancelled/withdrawn listings, our inventory once again failed to grow.   Still, 13 new listings is an encouraging sight, especially given that there seems to be plenty of buyers circling to meet the supply.  

We did see some of our older inventory cleared off the market last week, with 4 of the 8 closed sales having been on the market for 2+ months, including one which had been on the market for 5 months.  Still, the average age of our inventory is at nearly 2 months, meaning there are plenty of listings that stayed on through the holidays that have yet to sell.  These homes may present buyers with more room to negotiate, as many of their sellers are likely eager to get a deal done.  It's important for buyers to remember that if a house you unsuccessfully pursued a month or two ago is still on the market, it might be worth getting back in touch with that seller to see if their price or terms expectations have shifted at all.

1/6/2020 - 1/12/2020

6 new listings hit the market last week, but just like that, 6 were taken off the market as pending sales, preventing any post-holiday inventory growth.  That being said, there have already been 2 new homes listed for sale this Monday, perhaps an early indicator of a big week to come.  

Nothing remarkable to note about our three closed sales last week.  All three were fairly dated properties, which explains the lower price per square foot number.  Two of the three were on the market for two weeks or less, suggesting there was decent buyer activity even through the holidays.  We'll keep an eye on how things progress through January.

1/26/2019 - 1/5/2020

Happy new year!  I hope everyone was able to enjoy some quality time away from work over the holidays, and are recharged and ready to go in 2020.  

Our first weekly update of the new year looks fairly typical of new year market statistics.  Inventory is at a year to date low, and the market has remained mostly dormant since Christmas.  As we progress through January, expect to see some homes that were pulled off the market in early to mid December relisted, perhaps at a new price with some cosmetic improvements.  Buyers should also return to the market gradually, as everyone returns from vacation and settles back into their normal everyday life.  

12/16/2019 - 12/25/2019

This week's update actually covers the past 10 days, from last Monday through Christmas Day.  Over that time, it's no surprise that we only saw 2 homes listed for sale.  Listing activity generally takes a break around now.  This week through New Years will probably not be any different.  As a result, inventory has dropped down to 35 homes for sale, with 8 listings being pulled cancelled/withdrawn and 12 others going into contract to sell.  This number will continue to tighten up until the new year, so buyers are going to have to live with a narrower pool of options for the next month or so until the market begins to thaw out.  Stay tuned!

12/9/2019 - 12/15/2019

Inventory has plateau'd here in December, hovering around 54-55 the entire month so far.  There are actually more new listings coming on the market than I would have expected, but this is being nullified by older listings being cancelled or withdrawn.  5 listings this week were pulled off the market, likely to relist in the new year - perhaps at a lower price.  With one last weekend before the holidays, I would expect another slow week with a few more withdrawn and cancelled listings.  That being said, most sellers who are keeping their homes listed through the holidays are likely eager to get a deal done.  Buyers who remain vigilant in their search may find themselves rewarded.

12/2/2019 - 12/8/2019

Inventory didn't see the same drop it did the week prior, but it did continue it's downward trend.  The week after Thanksgiving provides the only semi-optimal window to list a home for sale in the month of December, as it provides two full weekends of open houses before the holidays roll around and everyone goes off on vacation.  I would expect fewer new listings this week and moving forward until January.  

4 listings were either cancelled or expired this week, which is a common thing to see around this time of year.  We will likely see those homes back on the market in a month or so, because after 30 days you are able to relist your home in the MLS with a fresh days on market counter, giving it the appearance of a "new" listing.

11/25/2019 - 12/1/2019

As fewer new homes are listed each week, the average age of our inventory is gradually getting higher and higher.  Redwood City's 55 active single-family homes for sale have been on the market for an average of 66 days.  When you take this into consideration, along with the fact that we are now officially in the slow season for real estate activity, it is reasonable to expect that many of these 55 sellers are getting anxious to get into contract before Christmas.  Some of these sellers are even likely to pull their homes off the market if they don't sell in the next couple of weeks, with plans to relist after the holidays.  

This presents buyers with a unique window of opportunity where sellers are more likely to work with them to get a deal done, even if the initial offer isn't quite what they were looking for.  So while the holidays aren't the most convenient time to make one of the biggest financial decisions of your life, they do present some advantages to buyers who stay active.  

11/18/2019 - 11/24/2019

Inventory is reeling in as the holidays approach us.  With Thanksgiving week officially upon us, our 59 currently active single-family homes for sale are the lowest since the first week of September.  Expect that number to continue dropping through December.  As we get closer to Christmas, we will probably see more cancellations and withdrawn listings, as sellers pull their homes off the market and wait to relist in the new year.  This is a common strategy for homes that have already racked up significant days on market heading into the holidays.  The idea is that since the holidays are generally a slow time for real estate anyway, it offers a good window to take your listing down, perhaps make some cosmetic improvements/changes, take new photos/video, and consider a new price.  After 30 days you can relist your home in MLS and it will show as a brand new listing again.  

11/4/2019 - 11/10/2019

Average sales prices came in much lower this week, but this is more reflective of the size and location of the homes that sold rather than a price trend, as price per square foot numbers remain strong and homes still closed above their average list price.  

The highest sale of the week was actually a RealSmart listing at 1010 Eden Bower Lane, a gorgeous 4BD/2BA home in the Farmhill Estates neighborhood which sold for $2,010,000.  The lowest sale of the week was a small 760 square foot 2 bed, 1 bath home at 600 Warrington Ave, which sold for $770,000.  This was actually the 4th lowest sale of the year in Redwood City, with the 3 lower sales located within a few blocks of this home in the Fair Oaks area.  

I would expect to see a lot of inventory clearing out over the next few weeks as we approach Thanksgiving.  This is a great time to be a buyer, as sellers are eager to get their home off the market before the holidays roll around.

10/14/2019 - 20/20/2019

10/7/2019 - 10/13/2019

After an impressive inventory surge from the end of August through the middle of September, things had slowed down in recent weeks.  But this past week saw another jolt, with 21 new single-family homes being listed for sale, bringing inventory back up to the mid-70's in Redwood City.  Still, we're actually below what inventory was around this time in 2018, which is when we first started started to notice the market shifting away from multiple offer scenarios and towards longer days on market. 

We have about a month and a half until the holidays roll around and put the industry on ice for a couple months.  We'll likely see inventory continue to climb in the weeks leading up to this, as sellers scramble to get their homes on the market and try to sell before Thanksgiving.

9/30/2019 - 10/6/2019

For the first time since April of 2012, the Redwood City real estate market saw a month where the average sales price was lower than their average list price.  September's sales to list ratio came in at 99.6%, which at an average sales price of just over $1,700,000 for the month, means that listings were selling at an average of around $30,000 below their original list price.  We're continuing the trend so far in October, with our first 12 sales of the month closing at an average of almost $40,000 under their list price.  This doesn't come as a surprise, as sellers have been experiencing this market shift for a while now.  But what IS remarkable, and I would venture to guess is almost unprecedented in any US real estate market (no data to back this up), is for a city to go 88 consecutive months with a sales to list price ratio above 100%.  To put things into perspective - the last time our average sales to list price ratio fell below 100%, the average sales price of a home in Redwood City was just under $700,000... Single-family home values have increased at an average of roughly $130,000/year since then.  Let that sink in...

9/23/2019 - 9/30/2019

Inventory finally pumped the brakes this week, helped along by 18 homes going into contract for sale.  But it was an unimpressive week for the 7 closed sales, which came in at an average of 2.8% below their list price after sitting on the market for an average of almost a month.  These are numbers that have grown more familiar in the Redwood City real estate market over the past several months, as the market has shifted considerably from what we grew accustomed in recent years.   That said, this doesn't mean our market has completely pivoted from a seller's to buyer's market.  Despite a slight decline in average sales price over the past couple of months, our prices are still on par with 2018 prices.  Sellers just have to be prepared to do what most of the rest of the country does when they sell their home - be patient.

9/16/2019 - 9/22/2019

Prices are trending down in Redwood City, as August and September have registered two of the three lowest months in terms of average sales price this year.  September has registered the lowest average sales price of the year at just about $1.6 million flat.  With inventory on the rise recently, it's no coincidence that these two trends would pop up at the same time.  A steadily growing supply of homes for sale is bound to put downward pressure on prices, and it appears we're beginning to feel those effects.  

All of this considered, the market is rife with opportunity for buyers.  We have seen 59 new single-family homes listed for sale in Redwood City in just the past three weeks, and with prices down and days on market up, the playing field is gradually being shifted in favor of buyers.