Lower Hillsborough Real Estate Market Update September 2011 - Seller's Market

Sales are up sharply in the Lower Hillsborough region of Hillsborough. There have been 69 single family homes sold through September 2011, as compared to 47 at the same point last year, which is an increase of nearly 50 percent. This is by far the biggest increase in any sizable neighborhood or city that we cover along the Peninsula. For the whole county, sales are up seven percent for the year. For the rest of Hillsborough combined, sales are slightly down for the year. This suggests that buyers are focused on the Lower Hillsborough market.

Sometimes when sales are rising it points to more homes coming onto the market, or sellers dropping prices. This does not appear to be the case in Lower Hillsborough. Nine percent fewer homes have come onto the market in 2011 than in the same period in 2010. With many more home sales and fewer listings, inventory has plummeted. At the end of September 2011, there were 26 homes for sale in the neighborhoods of Lower Hillsborough. For the entire summer of 2010, inventory was at or above 50 homes. Each seller has half as much competition than they did at the same time last year and each buyer has half as much selection.

Buyers are responding by snapping up properly priced homes. The average days on market -- a measure of how long a home has been on the market from list date to sale date -- has fallen from 68 days in 2011 to 57 days in 2010. In one stretch in late August to early September there were six separate homes that closed in succession, which had been on the market for 6, 0, 4, 3, 21, and 1 days!

Movement in price levels is difficult to measure at the neighborhood level. Most fluctuations of average or median prices are due to random changes in the type of home being sold, rather than actual changes in prices. For example, average prices are down five percent and median prices down eight percent in 2011 compared to 2010. However, this decline has been driven entirely by the fact that on average smaller homes have been selling. While "small" is relative when talking about Hillsborough, the average square footage of a home sold in Lower Hillsborough in 2011 has been about 300 square feet smaller than in 2010. We have seen the same move to slightly smaller homes in Upper Hillsborough. Looking at price per square feet, which is a way for adjusting for the size of a home, average selling values have been holding firm in the $725-$750 range.

For this analysis, Lower Hillsborough is defined as the neighborhoods of Brewer Subdivision, Country Club Manor, Hillsborough Heights, Hillsborough Knolls, Hillsborough Oaks, Hillsborough Park, Homeplace, Parrot Drive, and Ryan Tract. To view a map of Hillsborough, click here.

Recent Sales in Lower Hillsborough

By The Numbers - Lower Hillsborough September 2011

 

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