Marin County Up 10.1%

http://marinrealestateblog.com/ reports that the  median price for homes in Marin County rose for the second month, gaining 10.1%. The median price for condominiums also rose. The median price for homes Sold in Marin in April of 2009 was $800,000, the median price for homes Sold in April of 2010 was $865,000. The average price for homes Sold in April of 2009 was $1,022,859, the average price for homes Sold in April of 2010 was $1,164,496. Average days on the market for homes Sold in April of 2009 was 107 days, and the average number of days on the market for homes Sold in April of 2010 was 80 – the shortest time since August of 2008.

Marin County Prices and Mortgages

Bob Ravasio reports over at his Marin real estate blog that mortgages are as low 4.85%  in the Bay Area. Bob also rips into the sensationalization of a recent SF Chronicle article that said Marin County homes are down 26%. Which is a twisting of the facts.

As Bob tells it:

Thank goodness it’s not true.
While there was more information in the body of the article, for those who read that far, it made it clear that the reason average sale price has gone down so dramatically  is that more low priced condos are selling relative to single family homes. These tend to be much lower value, driving the average down on a much smaller base.

Average sale price is a terrible barometer of what is going on in the short term, yet because it is the easiest to explain or analyze, it is the statistic that gets used all of the time.