The back-to-back double-digit monthly price increases that home buyers have seen in Pleasanton over the last two years appear to have come to a screeching halt as the local housing market stabilizes.
A review of sales prices shows that the median cost of buying a single- family home in Pleasanton has remained at $850,000 for each of the first five months of 2006. Although thatÃs up from last year and better than in other areas where prices have actually dropped, itÃs also far from the 10 percent appreciation that the California Association of Realtors had projected for 2006.
Along with stabilized prices, the number of homes listed for sale in Pleasanton has increased. As of the end of May, there were 219 homes on the market here, compared to 97 at the end of January, 124 in February, 145 in March and 184 at the end of April.
ìOur inventory of single-family homes on the market is continuing to ratchet up, not alarmingly, but consistently,î said Realtor Roy Dronkers of Alain Pinel Realty.
Even with the increased number of homes for sale, actual sales have remained strong. In January, single-family home sales totaled 47; in February, 51; March, 64; April, 58, and last month, 69.
ìWe averaged 66 sales per month in 2005, and for the first five months of this year, we are averaging 60,î Dronkers said. ìSo weÃre less than 10 percent off the pace that was established for all of 2005. By anyoneÃs definition, this is still a sellersà market. ItÃs just not as robust a market that it was for the last 40 months.î
Dronkers, who provides regular market updates at the weekly meetings of the Valley Marketing Association of Realtors, said the housing inventory levels in Pleasanton today are well within the range of normal.
ìItÃs difficult to compare todayÃs market conditions to those of 2004 and 2005,î he explained. ìIn those years, we had the strongest market that IÃve ever seen in my 21 years of being in the real estate business.î
Sales of new homes have slowed outside of Pleasanton with some home builders now offering full 6 percent commissions to Realtors. When new home sales are robust, builders usually handle their own sales, offering little if any commissions to Realtors.
With new home construction coming to a close in Pleasanton, most builders are continuing to sell on their own. As of last weekend, according to Dronkers, Summerhill Homes had one new home still for sale at its Sycamore Heights development, and Ponderosa Homes was not asking for help from Realtors in selling the homes it is building in its Ironwood subdivision off Valley Avenue. New construction also is underway in the Vineyard Corridor on PleasantonÃs east side.
Dronkers said that while the single-family housing inventory has increased, town home and condominium sales remain strong. At the end of May, 68 of these units were on sale, a number that has been consistent since January when there were 58 town homes available.
ìMy overall sense, intuitively, is that we have a tremendous shortage of town houses and condos in Pleasanton to begin with, so thereÃs always demand for them,î he said. ìThe last time they built town houses here was in the Hacienda Business Park in 1998, so we havenÃt seen a new town home built in Pleasanton for the better part of eight years now. ItÃs just not a product the community has wanted in other parts of town.î
Dronkers said he hopes that when the city considers new housing development requests in Hacienda later this year that it allows for more town home developments.
He added that while he canÃt predict where the housing market is heading in Pleasanton, he believes this city is better able to weather any downturn than other communities.
ìI would caution sellers that for next 18-24 months, homeowners need to be prepared for a market correction that could affect prices,î he said. ìPrice might go slightly lower, but not dramatically lower.î
ìI also believe that Pleasanton, with all of the dynamics that we have here, will withstand whatever onslaught there is to come in the national and regional housing market,î he added. ìIt just seems that time and time again, we have always been able to withstand whatever goes on around us because Pleasanton is a community of choice for home buyers.î
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