Sales and Price Trends over 7 years
This mini graph of data I selectively pulled together from MLSListings.com statistics summarizes sales activity and sales price trends for Half Moon Bay, El Granada, Moss Beach and Montara, combined, for 2002 through 2008 using data from the month of August. The last percentage number uses the average (not median) sales price to determine the increase or decrease in market value from the starting year (on the left side) to the current year, August 2008.
For example, Coastside home values showed an average sales price of $731,812 in August 2003; the average sales price in August 2008 is $906,908. Therefore, the difference +/- between those years, not year-over-year, is a 23.9% increase in value.
This is just another way to look at the numbers to give a different perspective on our community’s home values over the last several years. For active buyers and sellers, it is important to get the hyper-local numbers for your town, neighborhood, street, including the most likely comparables from a real estate professional.
As a reminder the difference between median and average sales prices:
Median Sales Price: The midpoint between the most expensive house and the least expensive house sold in an area during a specific time; an equal number of properties sold above the midpoint as the number of properties sold below the midpoint. The Median Sales Price is often used as an indicator of the strength and the direction of the real estate market. This number can be misleading in a market with very few sales during a specific time period; one month there may be more higher priced homes that sell compared to the next month.
Average Sales Price: Take the total number of properties you are looking at and add up the sales prices to get a total. Once you have that number you divide by the number of properties and you have the average sales price for that particular search. This calculation averages out all price points in all price ranges in an area during a specific time. If more higher priced or lower priced homes are selling during that time period, it will be reflected in the average sales price.
More Half Moon Bay-Pacifica coastside market activity statistics to come, so check back or subscribe to these posts.