Good Luck Buying a Bay Area Home for Under $500,000
When it comes to the Bay Area housing market, the numbers don’t lie. Inventory is decreasing on downtown condos while home sales prices are rapidly increasing, homes are regularly selling high above the asking price, starter homes are out of reach, and to say nothing about the speed at which homes are selling these days.
The most recent update on the market comes from the East Bay Times, which is reporting that there are very few Bay Area homes on the market for under $500,000.
Sales within that price range have dropped 17 percent compared to this time last year. That doesn’t mean homes aren’t priced for under $500,000 in the Bay Area; it means while a home may be priced for $490,000, it will typically sell for $550,000 or even higher.
The East Bay Times says that there are many concerns that come with this information. Service workers, teachers, and office workers may be pushed out of town — literally, which will also affect commuting traffic while these people travel past homes owned by the tech company workers who can afford them.
Places such as Santa Clara County are seeing drops in home sales as steep as 35 percent from this time last year. In Contra Costa County, homes on the market dropped 9 percent while sales rose 10 percent.
Based on all the data, it seems there simply isn’t enough homes to go around. According to Andrew LePage, research analyst for CoreLogic, the region is “quickly burning through its supply of homes for sale.”