Home Values Appreciate in 2017
By the end of June the busiest season for Marin home sales is nearly over, with families settled for the school year or heading off for a summer vacation. Single family home and condo/townhouse prices both increased in value by about 4.5% so far this year (median sale prices, 2017, Marin MLS).
This appreciation is lower than last year when single family homes increased in value by about 8% and condos/townhouses by about 6%.
Richardson Bay and Mount Tamalpais from the Tiburon Bay Trail. See our blog.
Sale Prices Depend on the Town
Distance from San Francisco continues to correlate with home prices. Here are a few examples of the sale prices of single family homes for 2017 (first 6 months):
| Town | Median Sale Price Single Family Homes, 2017 |
Number of sales 2017 |
| All of Marin | $1,264,000 | 1,025 |
| Tiburon | $2,925,000 | 65 |
| Mill Valley | $1,590,000 | 149 |
| Corte Madera | $1,410,000 | 37 |
| San Anselmo | $1,338,500 | 78 |
| San Rafael | $1,100,000 | 210 |
| Novato | $880,000 | 237 |
If you would like to find out more about home prices in your town, contact Madeline.
Sale Prices Often Exceed Asking Price
We have been seeing a significant number of sale prices much higher than list prices. Here are some examples for single family homes:
| Town | Percent of sales over asking price |
Average increase in sale price over asking price |
| Tiburon | 35% | 10% |
| Mill Valley | 37% | 10% |
| Corte Madera | 65% | 11% |
| San Anselmo | 55% | 10% |
| San Rafael | 46% | 8% |
| Novato | 45% | 5% |
Best Houses Receive Multiple Offers
Original ranch style home in Belveron, Tiburon. See our blog on the renaissance of this neighborhood.
Single family homes that sold over asking price had many offers. We sampled two cities:
- Mill Valley: 5.2 offers per house, average
- Corte Madera: 4.4 offers per house, average
Competition Drives the Market
There are a few possible reasons that houses are selling on the average of 10% and sometimes up to 40% over asking:
- Likely. Fewer homes are available for sale, encouraging competition. 2016 had about 10% fewer houses for sale than 2015. The first half of 2017 showed an additional decrease of 5%.
- Likely. There are many interested buyers. Sampling Mill Valley and Corte Madera sales showed 4-5 offers per home, on the average (range 1-12 offers).
- Unlikely. Houses could be purposely under-priced to encourage bidding wars. While this is a standard practice in some Bay Area counties, it is not true in Marin. Marin homes are usually accurately priced relative to comparable sales during the previous six months. However, we have seen many price reductions of overpriced houses (typically listed over $2M-$3M) this year.
- Unlikely. There are a limited number of low-priced homes that get the most offers and drive inflation. We sampled the sale prices of homes in Mill Valley and Corte Madera that were most competitive.
- Mill Valley: Houses that sold over asking were distributed evenly through the price range of $700,000 to $2,300,000. See a graph.
- Corte Madera: Houses that sold over asking were distributed evenly through the price range of $850,000 to $1,600,000. See a graph.
