A combination of high demand and a dwindling supply is largely
responsible for pushing the price of homes in Hollister up by
nearly 24 percent in two years.
In early 2001, the average price of a home in the city was
hovering at about $350,000, but now local Realtors said homebuyers
would be fortunate to find a home selling in the $435,000
range.
A combination of high demand and a dwindling supply is largely responsible for pushing the price of homes in Hollister up by nearly 24 percent in two years.
In early 2001, the average price of a home in the city was hovering at about $350,000, but now local Realtors said homebuyers would be fortunate to find a home selling in the $435,000 range.
Although the average price of a home in Hollister fluctuates from month-to-month, most Realtors said the price is much more than $400,000.
“When I first started selling homes here, you could buy a four-bedroom house for just under $200,000,” Rick Pennington of Pennington Town and Country Realty said.
But now, Pennington said the current median price for one of the 103 single-family homes on the market is $470,000.
The median price for one of the 177 single-family homes on the market in San Benito County is $560,000, Pennington said.
A median price reflects taking all the listed sale prices picking the price in the middle.
“An average price can be adversely effected by some of the higher-end sales,” Pennington said.
Ray Pierce with Coldwell Banker Real Estate, agreed with Pennington that housing prices were steadily climbing, however, he said the average price differs depending on where in the county one is looking to buy.
“In Hollister, I’d say the average price ranges between $420,000 and $435,000 for the 102 available homes,” Pierce said. “That price increases significantly in San Juan Bautista where the average price is approximately $539,000.”
He said the reason for the difference in housing prices between San Juan Bautista and Hollister was based largely on the fact that there are fewer homes available for sale in San Juan Bautista, so when a home becomes available, the competition for it is often fierce.
“A home in Tres Pinos is roughly $539,000. A home in Ridgemark will run you from $530,000 to about $560,000,” Pierce said.
He said the one place in the county that has seen a decline in housing prices has been the North County area.
“The price has gone from about $877,000 in 2002 to $533,750 in 2003,” Pierce said.
Richard Calhoun, a realtor with Creekside Realty in San Jose, said housing prices in both San Benito and Monterey counties have continued to do well even though prices in Santa Clara County have peaked and have begun to drop.
In June, the median home price in San Benito County was $417,250, up from $355,000, during the same time in June 2002, Calhoun said.
He said housing prices in Monterey County rose from a median price of $366,500 in 2002 to its current price, $465,000.
“In Santa Clara County, the prices have come down to $550,000 in June from $564,000 the same time in 2002,” Calhoun said.
He said prices dropped in Santa Clara County largely as a result of the economic downturn that started with the slowdown in the Silicon Valley.
“We have one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation,” Calhoun said. “The economy has been flat since 2000, and there’s a lag in housing in Santa Clara County.”
San Benito County has seen its prices remain not only steady but increase largely because of a combination of local slow growth measures adopted by the county and the sewer moratorium that halted all housing construction in Hollister until 2005.
“When the moratorium started and the interest rates dropped, the inventory (of homes) started getting gobbled up, and when you start running out of inventory, the prices start to climb,” Pierce said. “This could continue until the sewer moratorium is lifted.”
Pierce also said prices may continue to increase despite the lagging economy.
“The economy is still pretty bad and one of the only things holding it up is the housing market,” Pierce said.
