San Mateo County Real Estate Bliss? Maybe if You Squint Your Eyes a Bit!

Tahoe Winter

Winter Bliss in Tahoe! What is a better scene then a clear blue sky and clean white snow blanketing the
countryside? We’re here in the Tahoe basin, really in the outskirts of Truckee at Old Greenwood, with some of our family taking in the winter season far from San Mateo County. We Wish You A Happy New Year!

The big question I am getting asked is what’s going on in the real estate world in our county as the year winds
down? Guess what! It’s not as bad a scene as in most of the other counties in California. I have written previously about our part of the world, Fantasy Island, and the follow statistics will show you what I mean by
that. Prices, for the most part, have not gone down and because of scarcity of houses for sale, prices have actually gone up.

Let’s first look at single family homes in our corner of San Mateo County. As you can see, two of the seven cities in our corner of the world have lost value, but the other five have gained. But if you look at the year to year number of sales and you see every city decreased in sales so the average sales price has risen because of scarcity of homes and the fact that the most expensive homes have been selling. What this isn’t showing
is what’s happened to the entry level home primarily situated in San Mateo and those homes have sat and dropped in value.

Single Family Homes Sales in:	# of Sales in 2006	2006 Avg. Sales Price	# of Sales in 2007	2007 Avg. Sales Price	Percentage of Change
Belmont	235	$970,059	155	$994,154	2.43%
Burlingame	238	$1,367,590	163	$1,406,021	2.73%
Foster City	204	$924,179	141	$969,224	4.87%
Hillsborough	109	$2,886,166	93	$2,723,513	-5.64%
Millbrae	120	$1,042,071	94	$1,041,257	-0.08%
San Carlos	258	$1,050,849	204	$1,104,808	4.89%
San Mateo	631	$978,062	455	$1,041,895	6.13%

Now let’s look at condo sales year to year in the six cities that have them. There is a dramatic reduction in the number of condos sold between 2006 and 2007 yet prices have risen in each city. Condos are generally
the first properties to be hit in a melt down yet they have held their own.

Condo Sales in:	# of Sales in 2006	2006 Avg. Sales Price	# of Sales in 2007	2007 Avg. Sales Price	Percentage of Change
Belmont	25	$481,240	7	$487,714	1.33%
Burlingame	46	$654,828	33	$671,954	2.00%
Foster City	123	$607,796	67	$626,701	2.55%
Millbrae	13	$556,653	80	$579,481	3.94%
San Carlos	64	$669,867	53	$672,152	0.34%
San Mateo	286	$542,843	165	$606,258	10.46%

So what does this all mean? All real estate is local and what you read in the local newspapers, or hear on
the radio or see on TV isn’t reporting what is going on in San Mateo County. Gloom and Doom? In some places, sure. In our corner of the world? Not necessarily so. Can you find good buys? No, not in most of our communities unless you are a first time buyer and extremely lucky. Will you see a lot of Short Sales or Bank Owned sales? In some areas, yes, but generally we are not seeing many of them in our 7 cities. First time buyers with cash down payments can certainly find some good buys. Work with a good Realtor and you will be able to find a house for the price of a condo in some areas on the Peninsula. Call us and we’re here to help you find just the right home.