Real Estate Expert Blog

The Millbrae real estate market, a component of the larger San Francisco Bay Area housing market, saw a drop in both home sales and median sales price. According to figures reported by the Contra Costa Times, November 2010 marked the second straight month during which the average sales price declined, largely as a result of fewer high-priced home sales. Statistics from MDA DataQuick indicated that the median price for Bay Area homes was $380,000, a decrease of just under one percent from October 2010 and a fall of slightly less than two percent from November 2009. In terms of sales volume, a total of 6,111 homes and condominiums were purchased in the most recent tracking period. This was a decrease of 0.2 percent from October 2010, and a sharper decline of more than eleven percent from November 2009. Fewer Bay Area properties were sold for more than half a million dollars in the month of November, while foreclosure sales rose for the fourth consecutive month. The combination of higher foreclosure sale rates and less expensive normal home sales, among other factors, led to a fall in median price.

Despite the overall weakness of the greater Bay Area real estate market, the number of foreclosures declined in November 2010. This was not the product of any substantial strength in the Millbrea housing market, but rather a consequence of the “robo-signing” scandal. According to figures from RealtyTrac, a total of 5,609 property owners in the Bay Area were in the foreclosure process, including a number of Millbrae homes for sale put on a bank-mandated auction. This number represented a decline of about eight and a half percent from October 2010, and a fall of almost eleven percent from November 2009. These numbers were the sharpest declines measured by RealtyTrac in nearly five years. Unfortunately, the evidence seems to indicate that this decrease is an anomaly due to the robo-signing scandal, while traditional drivers of high foreclosure rates, such as unemployment, remain high. It is unlikely that this decrease will continue into the first quarter of 2011, when foreclosures will likely increase.