Mill Valley Real Estate Update (December 2007 Home Sales Report)

The arrival of Winter, as it pertains to real estate in Mill Valley, California, brings a severe reduction of inventory of single family homes for sale. With just 46 homes currently on the market (down from 73 last month), the market has a very tight supply of homes. Indeed, with 25 sales last month, Mill Valley’s absorption rate is under 2 months. However, this is a seasonal phenomenon–lots of folks take their homes off the market during the holidays and put them back on the market in the Spring. Incredibly, there are just 13 homes are currently on the market under $1 million! As always, the commute to San Francisco from Mill Valley via the Golden Gate Bridge (a short 5-10 minutes), along with the excellent Mill Valley schools, pleasant weather and laid back ambiance provides ample motivation for San Francisco professionals to relocate to Marin County. Accordingly, prices and sales are ever-strong. Indeed, Mill Valley is THE place people thinking of moving out of San Francisco generally start with when they decide to buy a home in Marin County.

Mill Valley homes priced between $1 million and $1.5 million (Mill Valley’s bread and butter homes) continue selling briskly–8 of these homes sold in November 2007 (same as October). As with much of the rest of Marin, homes priced aggressively are getting multiple offers?note: the winning bid (which is not always the highest bid) is likely to be a couple of percent above asking price, depending on the home ad price. Mill Valley luxury home sales jumped last month with 6 sales in the $2 million – $4 million price range, compared to just 2 in October 2007. None of Mill Valley’s ultra-luxury homes (in the $4 million and up range) sold in November and just one remains currently on the market.

Mill Valley homes that sold during the past month averaged 62 days on the market and sold for an average price of about $1.5 million (about $686 per square foot). As usual, the hottest market segment was the $1 million to $1.5 million price range. That said, all but the ultra-luxury segment remain very strong with 28% – 33% of home in escrow.