Berkeley’s strong numbers for July 2006 continue to amaze me somewhat, but on the face of it appreciation is flat at best. The expired to sold ratio was only up to 27.9% in Berkeley in July, these are “buyer’s market” sorts of numbers (albeit not as good as last July’s buyers super-market numbers of 9.1%). Inventory is fairly low at only 2.3 months.
On the appreciation side, homes appreciated less than 1% on a sold price per square foot basis. This July’s average home measured in at 1800 square feet, a good deal smaller than last year’s average of 2032 square feet — so a bearish market analyst might argue that Berkeley buyers are having to settle for less. Because of the smaller size, the average price decreased by 10.60%, from an average sale price of of $878,033 last year to this year’s average of $784,973.
Days on market are low — indeed, lower this year than last — at an average of 21 days last June and 19 days this June.