San Mateo County Housing Numbers Rollback Again

San Mateo County home values have been on a roller coaster ride over the past year, ending up this October about where they started a year ago.

The median home price in San Mateo County stands at $674,000 as of October 2011. One year ago it was $680,000. That equals a price rollback to November of 2003, not nearly as bad as many parts of the country where the median home price has rolled back to 2001 levels.

This graph illustrates the roller coaster ride the Bay Area has experienced over the course of the recent housing downturn.

Are we stabilizing? We believe so. However one must remember that San Mateo County is a composite of some very different real estate markets. What is going on in Daly City for example with the disproportionate number of short sales and foreclosures can hardly be compared to the mid-peninsula market yet when we look at San Mateo County as a whole that’s exactly what we are in effect doing—getting an average of some very strong markets along with some of the most impacted.

The Case-Shiller report that comes out the last Tuesday of the month melds the numbers even more by using repeat sales pair methodology for the San Francisco Metropolitan Statistical area (MSA) representing the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, Metropolitan Statistical Area—a composite of the counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, and San Mateo.

Here one can clearly see why our media is reporting that home values have rolled back to 2001 levels. Remember though that real estate is VERY local and whenever averaging occurs it means that some areas are actually doing much worse than the reported numbers and conversely some areas must be doing much better. In order to better understand the area in which you live visit our detailed statistics page at MorganHomes.com to track your local home values. And if you live in Belmont, we delve even deeper to show you each month how our city is faring.

If your city is not on one of our lists, just shoot us an email and we’ll get the data for you.

All the best, Drew

The information contained in this article is educational and intended for informational purposes only. It does not constitute real estate, tax or legal advice, nor does it substitute for advice specific to your situation. Always consult an appropriate professional familiar with your scenario.