2008 LOOKS TO BE A FAIRLY GOOD YEAR FOR UNITS SOLD

By James Frangella
Written on 12/30/2008 @ 6:00am

You know, this year has revealed that it is not all that gloomy for real estate sales for some cities on the Peninsula. As a matter of fact, there have more single family, condo and multi-family units sold so far in 2008* then the slow-down years of 2006 and 2007.

The city of Seaside in particular has sold more homes than any other year since 1998. Even the boom years of 2002 through 2005! As of today, Seaside has sold 269 units and that does not include any sales scheduled to close in the next two days. Seaside’s best year was 2005 for units sold at 245 single family dwellings, condos and multi-dwellings.

Some of the other cities that will experience better numbers than the down-turn years of 2006 and 2007 are Marina and even, Pebble Beach. Unfortunately, some of the others will have the lowest number of units sold in 2008 in the last ten years. These cities include Carmel, Carmel Valley, Pacific Grove and Monterey.

We can analyze all day long why some cities experience record numbers and others have not but it will suffice to say that price is the deciding factor. Seaside’s prices have plummeted and the other cities have not. We can all agree that prices were so inflated in the bubble years that it was a necessary correction to see prices come down to more realistic numbers. The point here is that buyers are still buying Monterey Peninsula homes. Keep in mind that more properties sold in 2008 than in 2006 or 2007.

That is a great start for 2009.

Happy New Year!

* Actual numbers will be posted by mid January.