Burlingame Real Estate Market Review - First Half of 2011

Market Firming, Sales Up, Inventory Down

Overall market activity has definitely picked up in the first half of 2011 in Burlingame. Even with a slow first quarter, there were 104 homes sales in the January to June timeframe which was the most in that period since 2007.  There was a noticeable increase in the second quarter (even after accounting for the normal summer selling season spike): 73 homes sold in April, May and June, up from 56 and 43 in the comparable months of 2010 and 2009, respectively.

Sales volume was clearly lifted by healthy demand among home buyers throughout Burlingame, as a majority of homes have not been staying on the market for a long time, inventory is low, and prices are stable.

One important metric we often look at is days on market, which measures the number of days from the listing date to the date when an offer is accepted. For the first six months of 2011 it averaged 37 days, down from an average of 53 days in the first six months of 2010, a decrease of 28%.

Inventory, or the number of homes for sale in Burlingame, was low at the end of June, and the low inventory is certainly no comfort to eager Burlingame home buyers looking for more selection. A common gauge of inventory is the months of supply, which is a measure of how long it would take to sell the entire active inventory at the current monthly rate of sales. In June, it was a remarkable 1.3 months of supply, which was the lowest since April 2007. The measure jumps around a bit depending on what happens month-to-month, but it looks like it is trending in a direction of less inventory. With only 1.3 months of supply, a statistic like this is sure to be music to the ears of a Burlingame seller -- if you're considering selling your home, do so while inventory is at its lowest point so competition is minimal. In fact, in January, there were 4.6 months of supply and then it declined each month - this makes sense as there are typically quite a few homes left over from the winter market that failed to sell (almost always due to an ambitious asking price), and as the spring market progressed more inventory came on but the rate of home sales increased.

The median home price in the first half of the year was about $1.2 million.  On a monthly basis, this number can change a lot depending on which homes in particular sold, so it isn’t too useful to see where it is in say June compared to May...however, when we smooth out the data and look at multiple months, we can get a much better picture: the trend has been right around $1.15 million to $1.25 million since the beginning of 2009. Prices are pretty stable on an aggregate level within Burlingame.

Lastly, it is important to note that Burlingame has many sub or mini-markets as I like to call them.