Market Update: Contra Costa Inventory
If you’ve been looking for a house for a while, you might have noticed a pattern in the East Bay. Some homes, typically the ones with a great layout, location, and minimal to no improvements needed, are getting multiple offers, and in certain locations, selling for hundreds of thousands over asking.
But that’s only those homes. A lot of other homes are sitting on the market, just waiting for the right person to see their potential. I tour a lot of homes – almost every Thursday, and some Tuesdays, depending on which cities I have buyers actively looking. I see a lot of houses that, if they were priced a bit lower, or two blocks over, or didn’t have a bedroom with a window facing a busy street…might be part of a bidding war, but all of those things can cause problems for sellers.
Okay but what does the data say? So far I’ve just given you my observations. At the beginning of each month, I download the active listing data from the MLS and look at what’s actually available, how long homes are sitting on the market on average, which cities have inventory available, and where there are the most 3/2 homes under $1M.
As of June 1st, the least expensive home on the market in Contra Costa County was a mobile home in Bethel Island for $60,000. That doesn’t include space rent of $846/month though, so as with condos, if you’re considering buying a mobile home, remember that there will likely be space rent in addition to the cost of purchasing the mobile home.
The most expensive home available in Contra Costa was (and it’s still available, as of June 8) a $22M estate in Diablo. If you have $22M lying around and want to see it I’d be happy to help, but for the typical buyer looking for a 3 bedroom house, that one is about 22x what they are approved for!
In terms of total availability, Walnut Creek has the most homes for sale, but you’ll find better prices in Antioch. Of the 5 least expensive active listings, 4 were condos in Antioch. For anyone looking for a 3 bedroom house, Concord had 78 available and homes in Concord typically sell for a bit less than in Walnut Creek.
What data are you interested in? Condos with low HOA fees? 4+ bedroom homes? Anything in a certain price range? Contact me at leah@leahb.homes and I’d be happy to do a deep dive into whatever market segment you’re interested in.
Disclaimer: the data I use is from the MLS and may contain errors, such as data entry errors, and it does not include information on properties that are not entered into the MLS, such as off-market properties and homes that are for sale by owner. I am only looking at residential properties here, so no multifamily properties were included.
