The Pebble Beach housing market has softened somewhat, more so at the highest price point. The Carmel housing market is holding its own with a bit of strengthening at the upper end. First, a look at our markets, then some national numbers.
To more accurately describe the real estate sub-markets, I report the median price in Carmel and Pebble Beach in quartiles. The most expensive 25% of homes make up the first quartile, the next 25% the third quartile, the next 25% the third, and the least expensive 25% are the fourth quartile.
The data supports my feeling that home buyers are opting to move towards the “golden rectangle” and higher value locations as the market has softened.
Buyers with money, and liquidity, remain active in the upper end. Having said that, buyers are in “deal mode” recognizing that they have the upper hand in this market.
Pebble Beach remains relatively flat. It is important to remember that there are not that many homes at the high end so the sale of a single home, or the addition of one especially high priced listing can skew the numbers.
In the case of both Carmel and Pebble Beach, traditionally many sellers “don’t have to sell.” These sellers will often try the market for 6 months to a year and then withdraw to wait for a better opportunity.
As the economy remains weak, some of these sellers are going to find that their ability/desire to continue to hold weakening.
That fact is reflected in the numbers. Half of the homes currently listed have undergone a price reduction.
Nationwide Luxury Home Market Trends
Luxury home asking prices have fallen just over 5% so far in 2008. Average days on market, in high end markets, has stretched from 125 to 148 days. The “high end” is defined as the top 10 wealthiest zipcodes in 30 large metro areas across the country.
Nationwide agents are seeing the same growing concern amongst high end clients about the length and depth of the current financial crisis.
The collapse of Lehman Brothers and the credit freeze on September 15th signaled a change in attitude across the top end.
Short sales and even foreclosures are occuring at these higher prices, a rare occurance only a 18 months ago.
Insights
Price is becoming ever more important. Buyers are deal hunting and negotiating hard. Succesful sellers are pricing with that in mind.
The houses that are selling, are selling for prices set for today’s market-not the market of last year, last summer or even last month. That being said, there is still a market out there-people are still buying and selling homes. And there are a lot of investers looking for good investor opportuntities.
If you would like to discuss a specific neighborhood, or house, give me a call on my cell phone at 831-601-4740 or send an email to malone@malonehodges.com
