March/April 2019

Your Real Estate Expert for Berkeley and Beyond

  • Deep Market Knowledge
  • Analytical, Strategic, Creative
  • Honest, Adept, Direct

“Marilyn is exceptional. Her knowledge base, enthusiasm for her job, professional ethics, organization, sensitivity to our aesthetic requirements, loyalty and gentle perseverance set her apart.”

-- Bill and Carol Seidel

Marilyn Garcia, PhD

Marilyn Garcia, PhD Broker Associate, Realtor® CA DRE LICENSE #01355514

The Grubb Company 1656 Shattuck Avenue Berkeley, CA 94709

Direct: (510) 390-5406

THE OUTLOOK: North Berkeley, Winter 2018-19 wrap-up

The real estate market is constantly in transition -- seasonally, through market cycles, in response to changes in changes in employment and interest rates, and in response to changes in preferences.  Over the last handful of years, the North Berkeley market has benefited a lot from increasing demand for properties near BART, shops and restaurants.  The market as a whole was somewhat slower than expected in the fall, but overall 2018 was pretty good in North Berkeley real estate.  Going into 2019, there is a lot of talk about big upcoming tech IPOs, and the influx of cash and purchasing [...]

By |March 28th, 2019|Data, Housing Market, North Berkeley, Real Estate Trends|

THE OUTLOOK: Berkeley Hills, Winter 2018-19 wrap-up

Towards the end of last year, all the talk was about the real estate market softening, with buyers being more cautious, and a greater supply of listings for sale.  Lately, though, the talk is more about big upcoming tech IPOs, and the influx of cash and purchasing power they’re likely to bring to the market. Looking back at the annual data for 2018 in the hills, the median sold price was $1,380,000, which is up 5% from the 2017.  The average sold price per square foot was up even more, by 8% from the previous year, at $724. The general [...]

By |March 28th, 2019|Berkeley Hills, Data, Housing Market, Real Estate Trends|

UC BERKELEY: MORE ACCOLADES!

We already know that UC Berkeley is one of the top universities in the world, but I still love to see it getting the recognition it deserves.  In the latest rankings of graduate programs by US News & World Report,  there were many Cal programs that were among the top-rated. Cal was ranked #1 (or tied for #1) in Biological Sciences, Computer Science, English, Psychology and Sociology.  I was especially excited to see the graduate program in Economics (which is where I got my PhD) also tied for the #1 position! Other Cal graduate programs that ranked in the top [...]

By |March 28th, 2019|General Interest, Resources, UC Berkeley|

REAL ESTATE ANSWERS: How old is the housing stock in Berkeley?

Many times over the years, when counseling new buyer clients, I have pointed out that the majority of the homes in Berkeley are older, built in the early part of the 1900s. I know this anecdotally, and from looking at so many homes over the years, but I had not seen any actual figures. I thought it would be interesting to look at the data, so I went to my handy public records database and looked at records for the single family homes in Berkeley. A couple things to keep in mind:  (1) I only looked at structures that are [...]

By |March 28th, 2019|Berkeley, Data, General Interest, Housing Market, Research|

THE OUTLOOK: North Berkeley, Winter 2018-19 wrap-up

The real estate market is constantly in transition — seasonally, through market cycles, in response to changes in changes in employment and interest rates, and in response to changes in preferences.  Over the last handful of years, the North Berkeley market has benefited a lot from increasing demand for properties near BART, shops and restaurants.  The market as a whole was somewhat slower than expected in the fall, but overall 2018 was pretty good in North Berkeley real estate.  Going into 2019, there is a lot of talk about big upcoming tech IPOs, and the influx of cash and purchasing power they could bring to the market.   I have seen articles saying that the number of people who are likely to be affected by the IPOs is not large enough to have a big impact on the market.  That might be true, but one of the biggest movers of the market is sentiment — if people think the IPOs will push up prices, buyers will offer more to compete, and it will end up increasing prices.

Looking back at the annual data for 2018 in North Berkeley, the median sold price was $1,327,500, which is up less than 1% from 2017.  The average sold price per square foot was up a good bit more, by 9% from the previous year, at $840. There were a few more active listings: 101 in 2018, compared to 97 in 2017. The number of sales was almost identical, with 92 sales in 2018, compared to 91 in 2017.  Properties spent less time on the market in 2018 — things sold in only 17 days on average.  Overall, not bad.

The real question is, what’s going to happen this year, in 2019?  Looking at winter quarter sales (December 2018 – February 2019) is not a perfect market indicator, because winter season is the slowest time of the year, but there is some information there.

Over the winter, the median sold price in North Berkeley was $1,115,000.  This is a good bit lower than the median for 2018 as a whole, and it’s down by 18% from the previous winter. The average sold price per square foot ($789) was down 3% from the fall season (this is not unusual for the slow winter season), but (here’s the good news) is up 14% from the previous winter.

This winter we had more sales of smaller homes compared to last winter, and smaller homes tend to sell for lower prices, but for more per square foot. The average size of the sold properties this winter was only 1598 square feet, compared to 2174 last winter. This winter, 2/3 of the sales went over list price.

Overall, the winter results weren’t bad, and so far this spring, the local market is looking quite solid.  We’ll have to wait to see how much of that IPO money ends up in Berkeley (and how much other buyers factor in that possibility) as the year progresses.

THE OUTLOOK: Berkeley Hills, Winter 2018-19 wrap-up

Towards the end of last year, all the talk was about the real estate market softening, with buyers being more cautious, and a greater supply of listings for sale.  Lately, though, the talk is more about big upcoming tech IPOs, and the influx of cash and purchasing power they’re likely to bring to the market.

Looking back at the annual data for 2018 in the hills, the median sold price was $1,380,000, which is up 5% from the 2017.  The average sold price per square foot was up even more, by 8% from the previous year, at $724.

The general talk about the market wasn’t wrong, though. There were a few more active properties — 205 in 2018, compared to 197 in 2017 — and somewhat fewer sales —167 compared to 179 in 2017.  The amount of time that properties spent on the market in 2018 was the same as the previous year, about 3 weeks on average.  Overall, 2018 was a good year for the local real estate market, but not quite as hot as the last few years.

The real question is, what’s going to happen this year, in 2019?  Looking at winter quarter sales (December 2018 – February 2019) is not a perfect market indicator, because the winter season is the slowest time of the year, but there is some information there.

Over the winter, the median sold price in the Berkeley hills was $1,283,000.  This is a good bit lower than the median for 2018 as a whole, and it’s also down by 6% from the fall, and by 7% from the previous winter.  However, looking further at the data is reassuring, because the average sold price per square foot ($784) was up from both the fall season (by 9%), and from the previous winter (by 21%). Reconciling these two bits of information (median sold price down, average price per square foot up) is the fact that this winter season had more sales of smaller homes.  The average square footage of the sold properties this winter was only 1957, compared to 2229 last winter.  Smaller homes tend to sell for lower prices, but for more per square foot.

Overall, this winter wasn’t bad, and so far this spring, the local market continues to be quite solid.  We’ll see how much of that IPO money ends up in Berkeley as the year progresses.

UC BERKELEY: MORE ACCOLADES!

We already know that UC Berkeley is one of the top universities in the world, but I still love to see it getting the recognition it deserves.  In the latest rankings of graduate programs by US News & World Report,  there were many Cal programs that were among the top-rated.

Cal was ranked #1 (or tied for #1) in Biological Sciences, Computer Science, English, Psychology and Sociology.  I was especially excited to see the graduate program in Economics (which is where I got my PhD) also tied for the #1 position!

Other Cal graduate programs that ranked in the top ten included: Chemistry, Earth Sciences, Mathematics and Public Policy Analysis, all at #2; Engineering and Physics, both at #3, Environmental Policy and Management, History and Political Science, all at #4.  The business school was tied for #6, and the law school was tied for #10.

There are lots of other top-ten results.  If I haven’t mentioned your favorite, check out the full rankings online at: www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools.

By |March 28th, 2019|Categories: General Interest, Resources, UC Berkeley|Tags: , , , , |

REAL ESTATE ANSWERS: How old is the housing stock in Berkeley?

Many times over the years, when counseling new buyer clients, I have pointed out that the majority of the homes in Berkeley are older, built in the early part of the 1900s. I know this anecdotally, and from looking at so many homes over the years, but I had not seen any actual figures. I thought it would be interesting to look at the data, so I went to my handy public records database and looked at records for the single family homes in Berkeley.

A couple things to keep in mind:  (1) I only looked at structures that are currently listed as single family homes in the database.  Homes that have been converted to business use, or to condos or apartments, or that were destroyed over the years, are not included. (2) The numbers that follow are derived from information from the public records database, but the data there is not completely accurate.  Please take all these numbers as approximations, to give a sense of the magnitudes, rather than exact counts.

The total number of single family homes in the database for Berkeley is 17,682.  The 7 oldest homes listed in the data have a “Year Built” of 1880.  I was surprised to see that these 7 homes are scattered around Berkeley. I expected most of the oldest homes to be in the Oceanview area, but I think many of the historic properties there are no longer single family homes.

The next oldest homes in the current Berkeley housing stock are the 198 homes built from 1881 to 1900.  Building in Berkeley increased substantially after that, giving us 5502 single family homes built from 1901-1920.  The greatest concentration of homes in our current housing stock were built between 1921 and 1930 (6327 homes).  The Bay Bridge opened in 1936, but by then the biggest wave of construction had already passed.  Today, the City of Berkeley has 3140 homes that were built from 1931-1950, and the number of homes built per decade tapers from there.

Overall, the average “year built” of the single family homes still in existence (according to this database) is about 1930, so that gives us the answer. Our stock of single family homes is, on average, approaching 90 years old!

Your Real Estate Expert for Berkeley and Beyond

  • Deep Market Knowledge
  • Analytical, Strategic, Creative
  • Honest, Adept, Direct

“Marilyn is exceptional. Her knowledge base, enthusiasm for her job, professional ethics, organization, sensitivity to our aesthetic requirements, loyalty and gentle perseverance set her apart.”

-- Bill and Carol Seidel

Marilyn Garcia, PhD

Marilyn Garcia, PhD Broker Associate, Realtor® CA DRE LICENSE #01355514

The Grubb Company 1656 Shattuck Avenue Berkeley, CA 94709

Direct: (510) 390-5406

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