Burlingame Hills Real Estate - August 2012

Less of a Seller's Market Than Rest of Burlingame

In most areas of Burlingame, we are seeing rapidly dwindling inventory, rising sales, homes selling quickly, multiple offers, offers above asking prices and generally rising price levels. It is a clear seller's market. While some of those things are occurring in the Burlingame neighborhood of Burlingame Hills, it is not happening to the same extent. The Burlingame Hills real estate market has a better equilibrium between buyers and sellers, similar to what we are seeing in neighboring Hillsborough. For buyers looking to live specifically in Burlingame, this neighborhood might be a good opportunity if you find yourself competing with too many buyers in other parts of Burlingame.

That said, sales are up in Burlingame Hills, with 23 homes sold in the first eight months of 2012, as compared to 17 homes sold in the first eight months of 2011.

The average days on market for a home sold in 2012 is 65 days. The average has been skewed by a handful of homes that finally sold after being on the market for 6+ months. This is actually a good sign for sellers as it suggests new buyers coming into the market that were interested in homes that had previously not generated many offers.

The data does not point to buyers regularly making offers above asking prices. In many parts of Burlingame, sellers are regularly receiving multiple bids and end up selling at 5%+ above asking. In Burlingame Hills, the average sales price to list price ratio has been 98% in 2012, meaning that sellers are accepting less than list price. The ratio is even with 2011.

Tracking price levels in a neighborhood like Burlingame Hills can be difficult because of the wide range of selling values. In 2012 there have been sales under $1 million and over $2 million. The chart below plots the 12 month moving average for median prices, average prices and the average price per square foot. The large drop in selling values portrayed in the chart in late 2010 is a bit misleading. There were a couple of months that happened to have low sales totals and a few larger high priced homes sell. As time passed and those homes were taken out of the moving average, the price levels fell. Since mid-2011, price levels appear to be roughly steady. This matches what we see when looking closely at data for the past few months.

By The Numbers - Burlingame Hills Real Estate for 2012