Corte Madera CA Real Estate 2013 Year-End Review

Corte Madera CA Real Estate 2013 Year-End Review

Corte Madera CA Real Estate had a very strong year in 2013 and in data-wise is a micro version of Marin County as a whole: home buyers are frustrated by “lack of inventory”, despite the business cycle high 107 SFR unit sales. High unit sales and frustrated buyers clearly show the strength of Corte Madera Real Estate and Marin County homes in general in 2013.

Corte-Madera-CA-SFR-Unit-Sales

 

One interesting data is the drop in the median size home that sold in 2013. Many other Marin County towns are showing business cycle peaks in house size as people keep improving their homes and adding marginal space. Not Corte Madera- in fact the median size home is actually 1sqft smaller than the business cycle average- see below. Also notice below that in 2011 was almost the largest house size of the business cycle and it also coincided with the lowest prices in Corte Madera- check against $/SQFT graph below:

Corte Madera MEdian House Size

 

Notice above in 2008, the year that home prices peaked in most Corte Madera was actually the business cycle high in house size.

Corte-Madera-CA-SFR-TDG-$Index

 

All metrics of Corte Madera home prices are showing similar strength. The DuPont Group (TDG) Price index above shows Corte Madera homes prices 10% above the business cycle average, and 6% below the peak in 2008. All data shows Corte Madera CA Real Estate about 5% above the business cycle mean and about 5-6% below peak 2008 prices.

Median Homes Prices Confirm the above data. 2010 was actually an OK year for Marin County real estate relative to 2009 & 2011- but not Corte Madera- notice the broad weakness 2009-2012:

Corte-Madera-CA-SFR-Med-Price

You would think that with the median size home being relatively smaller than trend than you would expect that the selling $/SQFT would be relatively stronger, which is it marginally- it confirms the TDG Index and Median Pricing data. Notice the below trough in 2011.

Corte-Madera-CA-SFR-$SQFT

 

The above selling $/sqft, Median pricing and TDG Index all show similar strength. The below two charts showing Lot Values independent of Structure value and vice versa – confirm the other metrics. There are no surprises here and the relative even strength of both lot and structure values shows that buyers will buy in Corte Madera as opposed to other Marin towns  in they can find the right combination of lot/location and structure/layout/finish- aka the right house.

Current buying habits are not favoring lot/location over structure or vice versa. But other Marin County towns are- for instances: Kentfield- lot values are at a business cycle low– and structure values are near business cycle highs- meaning people will buy in Kentfield if they can find a really nice house that is finished to a high degree. Larkspur is the opposite– buying habits are showing that buyers are favoring lot values strongly over structure values- which means they care more about finding something in Larkspur and not caring so much about the structure/layout/finish.

Corte Madera buyers show is about even preference for lot/location and structure/flow/layout/finish.

Median Lot Values (removing the value of the structure):

Corte-Madera-CA-SFR-Lot-Values

Median Structure Values (removing the value of the lot) in $/SQFT:

Corte-Madera-CA-Depr-$SQFT-xLo

The last data- Market Segment Strength in Corte Madera Real Estate– the bottom 80% of the Corte Madera market was strong in 2013. There are only a few other towns in Marin that you see such broad strength of most market segments – even the high end was relatively strong vs the business cycle average. However- if you look at the relative weakness of 2009-2012, the business cycle average may be skewed lower than other Marin County Towns that saw decent years in 2010.

Corte Madera Segment-Activity

The DuPont Group sold just one house in Corte Madera in 2013- 137 Birch; but we hope to take 2 listings in Corte Madera in 2014.  If you have plans to buy or sell we ask that you please include us in your agent interviews or when recommending agents. Please let us convert our research and work in 2013 into a better price for you. Thank you and Happy New Year!  Written by Dave DuPont 415-867-6611.

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