Redwood Shores Real Estate Market Update September 2011 – Sales Pick Up

Raziel Ungar

Raziel Ungar

October 15th, 2011 - 2 min read

Most of San Mateo County is experiencing a bump in home sales in 2011, but some of the mid-Peninsula cities, such as Belmont, Foster City, and Redwood Shores have had noticeable declines.

In September 2011, nine homes sold in the Redwood Shores real estate market. Through the first nine months of the year, there have been 39 homes sold, down 25 percent from the 52 homes that sold in the same period last year. However, this change is a bit misleading. The year started off very slowly in Redwood Shores, with only six sales in the first five months of the year, versus 33 in the first five months of 2010. In the most recent four months, there have been 33 home sales, versus 19 for the same period in 2010. All in all, sales are way down for the year, but have picked up sharply in recent months.

Most measures of inventory indicate a tightening market. New listings are down 13 percent in 2011, which has contributed to an active inventory of just 10 homes at the end of September. The homes that are being sold are doing so faster than in 2010. The average home sold in 2011 in Redwood Shores has done so in 26 days, as compared to 44 days in 2010. This suggests that there are buyers out there moving fast when properties come onto the market. It also means that a prospective buyer has to stay on top of new listings or miss out on the best offerings.

In smaller area like Redwood Shores, which typically has less than 100 sales in a year, price levels move around a lot from month to month and it can be challenging to get an indication of trends. Based on the data alone, average and median sales prices are down 5-10% for the year (about $50,000-$100,000). However, this is solely due to the average home sold in 2011 being about 150 square feet smaller than the average home sold in 2010. At about $500 per square foot, 150 square feet can change a sales price by $75,000. When looking at price per square foot, which helps to control for the size of homes being sold, there has been no change from 2010 to 2011 in selling values.

Sellers are continuing to get pretty close to their asking price. The sale price divided by list price has averaged 99% in 2011, meaning that homes sold for 99% of their asking price. While this statistic is not perfect -- it doesn't take into account homes that were price reduced and then immediately sold -- it is relevant in that we know that when homes do sell they sell pretty close to the asking price. Determining the correct asking price can be tricky, but it helps to have a good relationship with a Realtor who is closely following your local market.

Redwood Shores can provide parents access to top quality public schools for a lower price point on a square footage basis than Burlingame/Hillsborough.  All of the elementary and middle schools in the Belmont-Redwood Shores School District scored well in the 2010 API testing, which measures student scores on standardized testing. The average score for the district was 904 (compared to 891 for Burlingame School District), and no school scored below 830. The statewide average score is 768 out of 1,000.

By The Numbers - Redwood Shores September 2011

Current Month YTD Total or Average
September 2010 September 2011 Jan - Sep 2010 Jan - Sep 2011
Sales 3 9 52 39
Days on Market 49 35 41 41
Months of Supply 8.0 1.1 2.4 2.0
Average Price $1,208,000 $977,000 $1,059,962 $996,923
Median Price $1,228,000 $890,000 $1,065,673 $969,564

See below for all of our latest real estate market updates for September 2011:

San Mateo County Belmont Burlingame and neighborhoods (Burlingame GroveBurlingame HillsBurlingame VillageEaston AdditionMills EstatesRay ParkTerrace) Foster City Hillsborough and neighborhoods (Upper Hillsborough, Tobin Clark Estate, Lower Hillsborough) Redwood City Redwood Shores San Carlos San Mateo

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