Inventory throughout the East Bay has been climbing, pushing some area home prices down. This July, according to the August 2016 Real Estate Weather Report by the Bay East Association of Realtors, home sales prices in nearly 25 percent of East Bay communities were trending downward on an annual basis.
The biggest drop in median sales price was reported in Hercules in West Contra Costa, where prices dipped 13 percent. West Contra Costa saw the most wide-spread impact on housing prices. Four of the six communities reported negative trends in July compared with last year. El Cerrito, El Sobrante and Pinole also saw falling prices.
El Sobrante did however see a 57 percent increase in units sold in July and 94 percent increase in units listed, suggesting the dip in prices isn’t anything concerning. Pinole also had a surge of 75 percent for units listed.
The only areas that saw overwhelmingly positive price trends were the Tri-Valley and Delta.
Brentwood saw the largest price gain in Delta, at 13 percent, and it was also the only Delta community to have an uptick in listing sales. Antioch and Pittsburg both had a 30 percent dip in units sold. Antioch’s dip in sales was related to the area’s falling inventory stock, whereas Pittsburg saw a 3 percent uptick in units listed. Antioch’s inventory decreased 23 percent.
In the Tri-Valley area, Alamo was the only community that saw a fall in inventory — 25 percent — of the six areas covered. Alamo had an increase in units sold of 18 percent and a 6 percent increase in median sales price to $1,647,500.
In Dublin, units listed increased 112 percent and units sold decreased 25 percent. Dublin is still on the affordable side for the area, with a median price of $992,500.
Livermore has the lowest median price in the area, at$760,000, which is an increase of 9 percent annually in July. It’s affordability may be the cause of the 30 percent increase in inventory and 4 percent uptick in listing sales.
The Lamorinda area had stable price trends across the board, with communities Lafayette and Orinda increasing 1 percent and Moraga dipping 1 percent. These ultra high-end markets are still in the well-above $1 million range. Units sold dipped 56 percent in Moraga despite a 64 percent increase in inventory.
Units sold dipped 31 percent in Lafayette and inventory upticked 56 percent.
Real estate conditions in the 880 Corridor
As the area with the largest amount of communities covered, the 880 Corridor is a pretty strong one. The only areas that saw a median price decrease were Berkeley and Castro Valley, which saw a respective dip of 5 percent and 1 percent. Both had a dip in units sold of 13 percent and 43 percent, respectively.
In San Lorenzo, units listed increased 100 percent, to a total of 22 in July 2016. Units sold dipped 13 percent, but prices rose 15 percent.
Alameda, which is the second-most expensive metro behind Berkeley, saw a 17 percent increase in home prices, a 23 percent dip in units listed and 14 percent fall in units sold.
