A Neutral Market in Marin County CA

This article is mostly about Marin County, California, however, it does provide an interesting “rule of thumb.”

When more than 40 percent of homes are under contract it is considered a sellers market and when under 25 percent of homes are under contract it is considered a buyers market.

I don’t know what percent of homes are under contract in the Jersey Shore area but if anyone else knows I would like to hear about it.

[Mike Metcalfe, a general contractor who lives in Mill Valley, has been looking for an investment property in Novato for six months, attending dozens of open houses and touring 10 homes before putting in an offer on a fixer-upper Saturday. Metcalfe says the real estate market is changing.

"I've noticed that homes are staying on the market longer and prices are coming down," he said. That trend may be seasonal or it might be the beginning of the long-awaited "flattening" of the market that some analysts have predicted.

Since early September, only 32 to 37 percent of Marin home listings have been in escrow each week, according to the Multiple Listing Service, indicating what agents and industry analysts call a neutral market. When more than 40 percent of homes are under contract, it is considered a sellers' market, according to Patti Cohn, a real estate broker with Frank Howard Allen Realtors in Novato. Below 25 percent is a buyers' market.]

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