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There is a lot going on in the world right now and we won’t pretend to know how things will turn out or affect the local real estate market over the next few months. In the meantime, this report will look at the most recent data available, though the impact of the wild volatility in the financial markets and the unfolding situation with the coronavirus has yet to show up in reliable statistics. Typically, the spring selling season is the most active of the year.

One positive for real estate is that mortgage interest rates hit a historic low in early March, as illustrated below, and rates play a huge role in housing affordability.

Long-Term Median Home Price Trends

Generally speaking, very similar appreciation trends in the communities of this region, going back to 1996. It is true that less affluent markets experienced larger bubbles and larger crashes in 2002-2011 due to their greater exposure to subprime lending practices. However, all these cities have seen very dramatic recoveries since 2012.

We broke out Piedmont on this separate chart below because otherwise its much higher median sales price would flatten out the lines in the chart above.

Mortgage Interest Rates Hit Historic Low

Home Sales Breakdown

Home Values & Statistics by City
& Selected Neighborhoods

Selected Market Indicators

The first 2 of the next 4 charts illustrate both general market trends in demand, and the large role of seasonality on market activity.

Regarding the next 2 graphs: Since mid-2018, the Inner East Bay has generally outperformed the overall performance of the counties in which they are located, Alameda and Contra Costa. However, these are still good illustrations of general market trends over the last 10 years.