Report: East Bay luxury home sales jump 43% in November

The East Bay’s luxury housing market continued its rally in November with high-end sales jumping 43.2 percent from a year ago, according to a new report by Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage.

The figures are based on Multiple Listing Service data of all homes sold for more than $1 million last month in Alameda and Contra Costa counties.

A total of 199 luxury homes were sold in November, up from 139 transactions in November 2012. High-end sales were down 2 percent from October, when 203 luxury properties changed hands, although a small seasonal decline isn’t unusual.

Meanwhile, the median sale price of a luxury home in November was $1.25 million, up 1.6 percent from the previous month but off fractionally from last November.

The upper end of the market stayed particularly hot with 19 sales of more than $2 million, nearly double the 10 multimillion-dollar transactions at the same time last year. Homes also sold faster on average and sellers received a higher percentage of their asking price.

“The East Bay’s luxury housing market is closing out the year much in the way it began with strong year-over-year sales gains and solid demand from well qualified buyers,” said Rick Turley, president of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage. “The market appears to be gradually balancing out from the red hot seller’s market we saw earlier in the year, but this is still a very healthy market as we head into 2014.”

Some key findings from this month’s Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage luxury report:

* Danville boasted the most luxury sales with 31, followed by Berkeley with 22, San Ramon with 19, Fremont and Pleasanton with 17, Oakland with 12 and Orinda with 10.

* The most expensive sale in the East Bay last month was a six-bedroom, seven-bath approximately 8,100-square-foot home in Pleasanton that sold for $3.1 million.

* Homes sold in an average of 35 days, down from 36 days a year ago but up from 27 days the previous month.

* Sellers received an average of 103.9 percent of their asking price, up from 100.8 percent a year ago but down from 105.3 percent the previous month.

The East Bay Luxury Housing Market Report is a monthly report by Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, a specialist in high-end real estate sales. The firm has nine East Bay offices serving Pleasanton, Berkeley, Castro Valley, Danville, Fremont, Oakland, Piedmont, Orinda and Walnut Creek.