The Bay Area’s Fastest-Paced Housing Markets: Q2 2018
Many Bay Area housing markets remain heavily skewed in favor of sellers, as buyers contend with critically low inventory levels and plenty of competition. To be successful, buyers often must make quick decisions whether to move forward with an offer, but in some of the region’s hottest markets, they must make a move almost immediately.
To find out where single-family homes sold the fastest in the second quarter, we dug into MLS data for each of the 70-plus Bay Area communities in which Pacific Union operates. While our intention was to compile a list of the 10 fastest-moving housing markets based on average days on the market, we have included 14 below to account for ties.
- Burlingame: Homes in the San Mateo County city sold in an average of 13 days in the second quarter. Over the past three years, Burlingame homes have never stayed on the market longer than 24 days.
- Albany: Buyers in Albany took an average of 14 days to close a deal, though the pace of sales dropped to as low as 11 days in the first quarter of 2016.
- Pleasant Hill: Homes in the Contra Costa County city also sold in 14 days, two days faster than in the first quarter.
- Los Altos: Los Altos homes left the market in 14 days, in line with the pace of sales recorded since the beginning of 2017.
- San Ramon: The final member of the two-week club, San Ramon homes sold in an average of 14 days, the fastest pace of sales recorded over the past three years.
- El Cerrito: Homes in El Cerrito sold in an average of 16 days, which while still fast is two days longer than the first quarter’s pace of sales.
- Piedmont: Piedmont buyers took 16 days to close a deal, and over the past three years, homes in the highly desirable Alameda County city have always sold in less than a month.
- San Mateo: Homes in San Mateo sold in 16 days, similar to numbers recorded since the first quarter of 2017.
- Alameda: Buyers on the island city scooped up homes in an average of 17 days, identical to the first quarter’s pace of sales.
- Menlo Park: In a separate analysis published earlier this month, we found that Menlo Park was one of the Bay Area’s fastest appreciating markets in the second quarter, and it’s also one of the quickest, with homes changing hands in 17 days.
- Moraga: Moraga homes sold in an average of 17 days, up from 12 days in the first quarter of 2018.
- Oakland: In the seven Oakland ZIP codes in which Pacific Union primarily does business, homes sold in an average of 17 days, the fastest clip in three years. The median sales price also reached a three-year high of $1.2 million.
- Palo Alto: Palo Alto‘s second-quarter median sales price of $3.3 million did not stop eager buyers, who took 17 days to close deals.
- San Francisco District 2: The city’s District 2, which includes the Sunset and Parkside neighborhoods, saw homes sell in 17 days, faster than they have in any other quarter over the past three years.
(Photo: iStock/LightFieldStudios)