Nicole GruenExplaining the East Bay market to buyers, especially first time home buyers, can be challenging. Many listings are listed below value in the hope to create competition between buyers and to drive the price up. This year so far, it seemed that Emeryville wasn’t part of this mind game. Yes, we had outliers, but in general properties went slightly above asking price. September clearly shows a new trend: many units went 10%, in one case 20%, over asking.
Emeryville has mostly condos and townhomes. When a single-family home hits the market, it most likely will go way over asking and fast. In September, a beautifully new constructed house (technically a townhouse, but if feels like a single-family home) at 5534 Doyle street was listed for $798,000 and sold for $915,000 within 13 days.
Overall the market seems steady when it comes to number of properties sold. It is a strong seller’s market with potential to yield high prices for well marketed properties.
By The Numbers:
Types of Homes Sold:
The number of homes sold for September decreased compared to last month at 14 homes sold.
Studios & 1 Bedroom Homes:
The number of 1 bedroom and studios sold decreased from 9 to 5.
2 Bedroom Homes:
The number of 2 bedroom homes sold increased from 5 to 8.
3 Bedroom + Homes:
Single family home sales remained flat with 1 home sold.
Median Sales Price vs. Median List Price:
Median Sales price increased from $543K to $565K. Median List price also increased from $494K to $565K.
Average Days on Market:
The Average Days on the Market for Emeryville homes increased from 13.9 to 20.6.
Sales By Location:
For purposes of identifying sales by location, we have divided Emeryville into four geographic areas.
North Emeryville: 2 Homes Sold.
South Emeryville: 5 Homes Sold.
East Emeryville: 2 Homes Sold
West Emeryville: 4 homes Sold
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Email East Bay Modern REALTOR® Nicole Gruen→.
I call BS on your representation of the Doyle Street house. I live nearby and there were multiple listings and a price reduction before it sold. Not sure if this is just laziness or an attempt to mislead readers about market dynamics.
Hi Anna, sorry if I offended you in my representation of this sale. My comment is solely based on the fact that it sold for a high price. Yes, the listing agent had listed it too high prior and it took a couple of attempts to finally sell. And, once it was priced right, it sold fast and over asking price. In my contribution I am sharing sales data of the current month. The scope isn’t to cover every detail about each sale. Again, I am sorry that you seem mad at me. I am not trying to mislead nor do I believe that I am lazy.
Anna, please take your meds.
Well that’s a thoughtful retort. I’m sorry, but part of the reason that housing affordability has plummeted in this area is this kind of rhetorical manipulation of the market by the industry. In the first paragraph she labels this practice a “mind game” on buyers, but then in the second paragraph she’s essentially doing just that. She featured a picture of this property on the post and used it to demonstrate her argument that things are selling as soon as they hit the market for way over asking. Ask anyone who knows this property: it sat on the market for months, with price reductions, and only sold once it was strategically underpriced. Again, if this was on her personal realtor blog or some kind of sales site, I would expect this kind of puffery. But this site, which I value, holds itself out as a news source for our community.
I’m confused as to whether your market analysis is intended as a form of journalism or if this is essentially just business development. If it’s the latter, I’m not sure why exactly it’s on this site. And if it’s the former, I think you need to either be more transparent or take criticism less personally. You specifically mentioned that sale to demonstrate your point that “[w]hen a single-family home hits the market, it most likely will go way over asking and fast.” If one were to read the paragraph you wrote without knowing anything about that property, would you expect that it would have been on the market for months and only sold after price reductions? Sorry, but this just comes across as a realtor anecdotally ‘hyping’ the market rather than some kind of neutral analysis.