April's Market Update for Millbrae's Mills Estates Neighborhood

Things are moving quickly in the real estate market lately, and as the inventory levels continue to be very low, Millbrae & the Mills Estates area specifically are proving to be no exception.  The level of activity in the Mills Estates area continues to be somewhat similar to last month, but there were 4 new listings of single family homes in March, compared to only 1 in February.  Of these four new listings, 1 is under contract and 1 has already sold.

• 1481 Murchison Dr

• 1219 Toyon Drive

• 1400 Madera Way went pending after only 7 days on the market. (This is the only pending sale in the Mills Estates at this time.)

• 1026 Murchison Drive was listed on March 1st, and sold only 24 days from the listing date.

For summaries about each of these properties, you can read about them on my full Mills Estates market update on Millbrae Pulse.

Currently, there are only 3 active listings in Mills Estates, two of which are the new listings mentioned above:  1481 Murchison & 1219 Toyon. 

The third current listing is 211 Marcella Way, which has been on the market for 82 days and is a short sale.  In addition to its being a short sale, another possible reason for the longer marketing period may be the difficulty in arranging showings, as I have been trying to gain access for a couple months without success.

Now to see how Mills Estates compares with the city of Millbrae as a whole…

• There were 13 new listings of single family homes in the whole city.  Of these, six went into contract after an average of 9 days!

• There are only 9 active listings of single family homes in Millbrae at this time, six of which were newly listed in March.

• There are currently 11 listings under contact with a median sales price of $1.175 million (the same as last month) after an average of 18 days on market.
• There are 11 closed sales with a median sales price of $1.1M (compared to $1.15M from last month) after an average of 15 days on the market.

It’s interesting to note the gradual increase in the price per square footage for homes in Millbrae over the past year, which was at $510 in March 2012 and shows a 20.6% increase to $615 in March 2013!

Off the record, I’m hearing from agents and homeowners alike of possible new listings coming up in the next few months.  It seems that those who have been waiting for housing prices to appreciate are hearing that it’s finally happening, so they’re more open to making the move.  As inventory levels begin to increase it is possible that the rate of appreciation may slow a bit, so if you’re thinking about selling, it might not be prudent to just hold out for prices to increase much longer, because you may actually have more competition later for a difference that might not be that much greater.  And of course, buyers should be prepared to be aggressive in their offers, as we are only anticipating that prices (and probably interest rates as well) will continue to rise.  Again, things are moving very quickly, as we’re talking less than two weeks on the market for the majority of houses in Millbrae, so get everything lined up so you’re ready to move ahead when you find “the one.”