Albany Housing Bubble?

If you haven't noticed, Albany's real estate market is on fire. Sparse inventory paired with historically low interest rates have catapulted prices near record highs. 

To show this I ran a search of the Multiple Listing Service, the widely used service where real estate agents list properties for sale. The search parameters were as follows: All sold homes in Albany since 2003 with a square footage of 1000 or greater. When you sort by sold price dollars divided by living square footage ($/sf), we find that several of Albany's most expensive sales have occurred in the past 6 months.

I have ranked the most recent notable sales in terms of price per square foot of living space:

7^th place - 519 Santa Fe - $708/sf Sold for $790,000 - This home came on the market January 9^th. 519 Santa Fe featured 2 bedrooms/ 2 baths and 1116 square feet of living space. Marketed for 14 days it received 4 offers and sold on February 20.

12^th place - 917 Ramona – $681/sf Sold for $740,000 - 3 bedrooms/ 1 bath just over 1000 square feet. Small bedrooms with a well-sized lot. The home received 10 offers.

37^th place - 811 Ramona - $635 /sf  Sold for $815,000 - This home was never listed on the open market. Featuring 1284square feet, 2 bedrooms and 2 bathroom Ramona sold on January 11^th.

41^st place – 729 Curtis - $633/sf Sold for $860,000 - This home marketed in February features 3 bedrooms and 1.5 baths on a 5000 sq. foot lot. The property received 12 offers.

73^rd place - 1056 Nielson – $601/sf Sold for $725,000 - Featuring 2 bedrooms, 1 bath 1206sf, 1056 Neilson received 4 offers and was snapped up after 7 days on the market.

Upcoming Sales

As well as these recent sales we have one pending sale that once closed will also provide strong evidence for the increase in Albany home prices.

1014 Ordway - You may recognize this home from another recent article on Patch. This property was bought out of probate in 2005 for $500,000 by a couple of Albany investors. Fully remodeled it is now listed at the lucky price of $998,000. Featuring 1998 square feet, 4 bedrooms, and 2.5 baths in this market I am not sure the seller will need much luck. The home received 13 offers and should be closing shortly.

Update - 1014 Ordway closed on March 14th for $1,255,000 making it the most expensive home ever sold in Albany. At $628/ square foot it comes in at about 50th place in the most expensive homes per square foot.

I know many of you enjoy keeping up with the real estate market in Albany. Feel free to share any comments or thoughts.

Devin Ratoosh is a real estate broker specializing in Residential Sales in Albany and Berkeley.

Find Albany Homes at BuyEastBay.com

Curious about the Albany real estate market? Feel free to contact Devin for more information or to find out what your home is worth. Devin is always available on his cell phone at 510-848-8888 or via email at dratoosh@gmail.com