San Carlos Real Estate Market Update August 2011 – Inventory Tightens

In August, there were 26 homes that sold in San Carlos. Through the first eight months of the year, there have been 188 sales, up 13% from the prior year, and up 31% from 2009. This is not surprising given how desirable San Carlos is a place to live, coupled with the excellent public elementary school system.

There were only 22 new listings in August, well below a normal summer month, when typically 35-40 new listings come onto the market. With a dearth of new listings and continued strong sales, inventory has fallen. The active inventory was 46 homes in August 2011. Usually the summer months has the most inventory because that is when people are most likely to be selling and buying homes. Inventory is down from 66 homes in August 2010. With 20 fewer homes on the market, each seller faces less competition than they did last year.

Overall, supply in San Carlos is tighter than average in San Mateo County, which makes sense given that it is one of the most popular places to live. The average days on market is a measure for how many days the average home that sold was listed. For the year it has averaged around 30 days, as compared to 60 days for the whole county. Homes that are well priced sell fast in San Carlos.

Median prices move around a lot from month to month depending on which specific homes sold in a given month. When looking at the year-to-date averages, the median price has been roughly flat in 2011 as compared to 2010. The price per square foot has averaged about $550 in 2011, which is the same as 2010. An interesting note in August 2011 is that the average square footage of homes sold was just over 2,000 square feet. Usually, it is around 1,600-1,800 square feet in San Carlos. We will keep an eye on the marketplace to see if this is a one month blip or evidence of demand for larger homes.

Sellers are continuing to get pretty close to their asking price. The sale price divided by list price has averaged just under 100% in 2011, meaning that homes sold for the same as 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 Realtor that is closely following the local markets.

 

By The Numbers - San Carlos August 2011

 

See below for all of the latest real estate market updates for August 2011:

San Mateo County (July 2011) Burlingame Hillsborough San Mateo San Carlos Burlingame neighborhoods (Burlingame Grove, Burlingame Hills, Burlingame Village, Easton Addition, Mills Estates, Ray Park, Terrace)