The local housing market has caught up with sales from 2006, but
real estate agents say the industry continues to drag.
Hollister – The local housing market has caught up with sales from 2006, but real estate agents say the industry continues to drag.
“We are in a changing market,” said Renee Kunz, manager of Intero Real Estate Properties. “Homeowners are a little frustrated.”
According to data from REInfoLink, sales closed on 29 homes in July, for an average sales price of $555,005. That’s up from the 26 homes sold in July 2006, and the total sales volume also increased from $15.5 million in 2006 to $16.1 million in 2007.
But real estate agents aren’t breaking out the champagne quite yet. For one thing, July 2006 was marked by a 58 percent drop in home sales from June, so it’s not a great month to emulate.
Real estate agent Dee Brown of ReMax Valley Properties said she’s also disappointed July 2007 sales didn’t match the 34 homes sold in May. July is traditionally a strong month for sales because families want to move before school starts, Brown said.
Realtors agreed that most of the activity is now at the higher end of the market, among “move-up” buyers rather than first-time homeowners. Kunz said she’s seeing more sales and more activity in homes priced at more than $650,000.
“The higher end is actually pretty stable,” added Jan Kisla, a real estate agent with Coldwell Banker.
Many of the biggest national real estate headlines continue to revolve around the dramatic increase in home foreclosures, a crisis that’s beginning to hurt the international economy. Foreclosures continue to be a problem in San Benito County, with Irvine-based data firm RealtyTrax counting 193 local foreclosure filings in the first six months of 2007.
Kunz said the news has made some buyers less willing to “get off the fence,” but she emphasized that most of the foreclosures originated from “a few bad apples.”
“Education is critical,” she said.
The combination of a slower market and high foreclosure rates means that many lenders are agreeing to “short sales,” in which homes are sold for less money than their owners owe on the mortgage, Brown said. She recalled putting one Hollister home on the market for $669,000, a price she considered reasonable until a house across the street was offered for a short sale of $569,000. That home was originally purchased for $740,000.
“Lenders are saying ‘yes’ because it’s better to sell it for less than to foreclose,” Brown said. “That puts pressure on other prices.”
Anthony Ha covers local government for the Free Lance. Reach him at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or [email protected].
