San Mateo Median Price Hits Record High – UNSTOPPABLE
Inside Bay Area – Countywide, median price of homes hits record high
Sales of single-family homes in San Mateo County plummeted in October, falling 32 percent as the housing slump deepened on the Peninsula, according to a new report.Despite weak sales, the median price of a home countywide hit a new record high: $1,026,282, according to the County Association of Realtors.Real estate agents cautioned that the soaring median price does not reflect growing home appreciation across the county. It’s more a product of solid sales of high-priced homes, which skews the median price upward.Even though sales are down, prices are actually holding up in a lot of places,” said Marianne Rush, manager of the Redwood City and San Carlos office of Coldwell Banker. “There’s still money out there to buy.
Yes! Yes! Yes!
San Mateo is unstoppable! What this means is that if you bought a house last month, you’d be rich today!
Sales of luxury homes priced at more than $2.5 million are strong in the county. In the third quarter, sales of luxury homes jumped 35 percent countywide compared to the same quarter of 2006, according to Alain Pinel Realtors in a survey of its own sales.
But median prices slipped by 10 percent or more compared to October 2006 in many working-class neighborhoods of the North County cities and East Palo Alto. These are areas where subprime loans were prevalent.
But of course $2.5 million dollar house sales are strong. Let’s look at the reasons:
- AAPL stock expected to hit $500
- GOOG stock expected to hit $2000
- VMW stock expected to hit $300
- US Dollar all time low –
millionsbillions of people flush with cash in People’s Republic of China, India, and Europe are dying to buy properties in prestigious and world famous Atherton, Redwood City, San Carlos, Belmont, and Millbrae. Easy access to SFO is an incredible draw. - Economy is doing great. Have you been to Santana Row lately? Spagos? Good luck getting a parking spot or a table.
- Interest rates fell – that means they’re going to fall even further! Buy now and you can keep refi’ing as the interest rates heads towards 0%!
Now more than ever is a great time to buy or sell a home.
November 9th, 2007 at 1:54 pm
I am priced out forever
November 9th, 2007 at 2:24 pm
>>Interest rates fell – that means they’re going to fall even further! Buy now and you can keep refi’ing as the interest rates heads towards 0%!<<
Ha ha ha! Tons of my “homeowner” friends had been saying how refi’ing before ARM reset works wonders, even a few months ago. And the Bay area RE never goes down.
Well, tech stock has gone down lately. But it’s really surprising how “rich” people have continued to buy real estates in the current market over here.
November 9th, 2007 at 4:26 pm
Um, actually there’s never any problem getting parking at PlasticTana Row, and restaurant biz is down I hear.
November 9th, 2007 at 5:38 pm
esr: he’s being sarcastic.
November 9th, 2007 at 5:40 pm
Thanks Density….. I’m kinda dense sometimes!
I cannot imagine anyone considering Santana Row to be any kind of a destination, we have strip malls out here in red/flyover country that are more interesting.
November 9th, 2007 at 10:05 pm
Speculation in the stock market is a reason to buy peninsula real estate?
Good luck in the future.
November 9th, 2007 at 11:21 pm
Builder Blames Housing Crisis on the Media
Who’s to blame for the housing slowdown? Articles have looked at a number of factors: The easy availability of credit (”How Credit Got So Easy and Why It’s Tightening”), consumers who couldn’t refinance adjustable rate mortgages (”One Family’s Journey Into a Subprime Trap”), ratings companies that didn’t move quickly enough to downgrade mortgage securities (”How Ratings’ Firms Calls Fueled Subprime Mess”).
In today’s New York Times, Robert Toll, the chief executive of luxury home builder Toll Brothers fingers another culprit — the media, which he said has scared away home buyers with bad news.
Yesterday, Toll Brothers reported its own bad news. The company announced that sales for the quarter, ended Oct. 31, fell 36%, to $1.17 billion, and that customers backed out of 39% of their orders, the highest rate ever.
“Perhaps as the presidential campaign heats up and moves to the front page, negative articles about housing will move off the front page,” said Mr. Toll. “Then, hopefully, the positive underpinnings of low interest rates, low unemployment and a decent economy will raise new-home-buyer confidence.”
Readers, are the gloomy media reports about the housing market making things worse? –Emily Friedlander
Permalink | Trackback URL: http://blogs.wsj.com/developments/2007/11/09/builder-blames-housing-crisis-on-the-media/trackback/
Save & Share: Share on Facebook | Del.icio.us | Digg this | Email This | Print
Read more: Data, Buying
More related content
Comments
Report offensive comments to developmentsblog@wsj.com
Blame the “invisible hand” of supply and demand. In fact, why not arrest and handcuff that god-aweful hand? Bad bad hand…
Comment by Blame game – November 9, 2007 at 11:57 am
Did Mr. Toll REALLY believe this building “boom” would go on indefinitely? Please, spare us the “woe is me”…you had a nice run, now it’s someone elses turn. I think they call it capitalism.
Comment by Ozzie – November 9, 2007 at 12:03 pm
I don’t recall Mr. Toll blaming the media for the bubble that made him richer. Did I miss it?
Comment by freelunch – November 9, 2007 at 12:05 pm
I blame the media for the bad weather we’ve been having- after all if they just said it was nice out, it would be, wouldn’t it?
Comment by sinic – November 9, 2007 at 12:09 pm
The media harps whatever bad news is out there. Sometimes it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. Housing. Iraq. US voters want out of Iraq (without understanding the situation, how could we?), congress hears the call and pushes for Sept update to “make decision”, enemy kicks up attacks (seeking US “hearts and minds” for withdrawl support), media runs Iraq death toll nightly, US citizens rally for withdrawl, report comes in, US stays the course, attacks fall off, Iraq isn’t reported nearly as forcefully. A similar thing could definitely happen in housing where buyer/seller expectations/impressions set the price. Granted, housing has to cap somewhere with income but the media clearly can influence impressions and hasten/deepen the effect. Fun!
Comment by Keith – November 9, 2007 at 12:16 pm
My question to Mr Toll is what is he really doing to help correct this mess? Has he curtailed construction or is he just going ahead completing houses and blaming everyone else
Comment by jimsep – November 9, 2007 at 12:22 pm
Amazing when the CEO of a large builder doesn’t understand the basics of a real-estate cycle that’s been seen before. No wonder the company’s been hurt more by the market dip than some of their competition.
Comment by waaaah – November 9, 2007 at 12:23 pm
The housing industry goes through this about every 10 years (as does the lastest Wall Street finance debacle – Where’s Mike Milken today?). American perception is that when it’s good it will be good forever, and when it’s bad it will be bad forever. So goes the life of many American homeowners, investors, etc.
Comment by nmr – November 9, 2007 at 12:28 pm
. . it’s pretty clear he thought there were excesses and a downturn was coming. Unfortunately he believed his own and the industry’s BS that the industry/economy had “changed” (just like the Internet Economy remember) and then did little to prepare for the inevitable swoon.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/16/magazine/16brothers.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1
Comment by Read this . . . – November 9, 2007 at 12:29 pm
The media exacerbates everything due to its inherently repetitious manner of reporting. It is not their intention to do so, it is just reporting the news at 5 and 11pm every day, and in the newspapers and on the web. If one hears something often enough, it takes on a truth of its own, even if an impartial analysis reveals it to untrue, or less accurate than the reporting alone might make one believe.
The issue of whether to invest in the stock of a company or in a home (to buy or not to buy, etc.) is often controlled by fear and greed. Generally, investors dread the loss of money and the accompanying feeling of making a bad decision more than they enjoy the contrary feeling of making money. The media, by repeating the bad news over and over, even though it is factual, makes it that more difficult for the average person to swim against the tide of bad news and make what might be a very timely investment. It is always easier to do nothing.
Comment by AlanF – November 9, 2007 at 12:38 pm
Mr Toll had no problem when the media was cheering the housing market on
Like the 2005 Time cover story” Home Sweet Home Why We Are Going Gaa Gaa Goo Goo Over Real Estate
Comment by wall street guy – November 9, 2007 at 12:38 pm
Totally agree with waaaah. Mr. Toll does not exhibit any understanding of real estate market cycle, nor does he seem familiar with risk management concept. He should be fired, just like all of those other goons…
Comment by Blame game – November 9, 2007 at 1:01 pm
Yes the housing industry has cycles, but the media and its far left slants on everything from the big scam (global warming) to the housing crisis. With interest rates as low as they are, there is no reason for this.Yes loans should be proper,but the lefties are responsible and cause much more damage than good while lining their pockets.
Comment by Jim Heinz – November 9, 2007 at 1:16 pm
To Jim Heinz: Lefties? Are those the ones holding their phones in left hand?
Comment by Blame game – November 9, 2007 at 1:41 pm
Just look at your headline! Gross exaggeration. He didn’t blame the media, he only said that media stories influenced consumers negatively; i.e., conributed somewhat to the downturn. That seems undeniable to me.
Comment by Pete – November 9, 2007 at 1:55 pm
Mr. Toll is a cheerleader, what do you expect the guy to do?
He is attempting to salvage his company from the upcoming slaughter.
Cannot blame or fault the guy that much.
If Toll does not shore up its balance sheet instead of pointing fingers (or placing innuendos, as someone typed), they may not be a going concern come Q4 2008.
Comment by JIm – November 9, 2007
November 10th, 2007 at 8:16 pm
>>esr: he’s being sarcastic.
Actually I was somewhat serious. I had to go to Santana Row a few weekends ago in the evening, and it was a royal pain in the ass.getting a parking spot.
Similarly, I was at stanford mall the other day – getting a parking spot was also a royal pain in the ass.
People were circling looking for spots.
November 10th, 2007 at 9:20 pm
burbed – Hmm, it could be that I tend to avoid friday and saturday nights, or peak shopping times generally.
Santana Row has that parking structure, I guess that was all full …..
I like the cool old houses around that part of town.
November 11th, 2007 at 8:58 am
Home prices in Fremont are showing signs of
strain — with some properties listed at 10% off.
http://www.redfin.com/stingray/do/printable-listing?listing-id=1170927
Prime areas like cupertino, palo alto etc will start
cracking when GOOG, YHOO, INTC, ORCL etc announce
poor results and layoffs in the coming quarters. CSCO
lead the pack with a dire forecast last week
November 12th, 2007 at 10:22 am
This is what happens when you can’t make any more land! Mobile homes and RVs will be the new black.
November 14th, 2007 at 5:27 pm
@rs: Are you on crack or meth? CSCO announced dire results? Are you out of your mind? They announed their 17th quarter of mid-teens growth! Do you have any concept of how good that is for a company of their size? Did you not hear how John Chambers said that he’s confident that they can continue a 15-17% growth rate for the Long Term?
There is nothing dire about that. Cisco is doing just fine. The market reacted to the fact that John said the US enterprise spending may slow a little bit but then he indicated that they are much more exposed to emerging market and large service carrier spending.
This means that their earnings were anything but dire. Interesting that that is what you took from it however. People need to stop watching the media, because the media is often wrong.
November 19th, 2007 at 12:06 am
Don’t forget about Facebook. Not publicly traded, but $15B in valuation over just a couple years. With valuations and masses of wealth growing like that, housing prices may never really “crash”. Check out my blog, about this same topic:
http://www.yourmortgageworld.com/blog/6/facebook-com-and-housing-prices/
December 19th, 2007 at 1:24 am
“young teen cumshots”…
Motives, raw Tupsa heavily missile opportunity action. Arlene “young teen cumshots” consideration desired child’s Sanyd Style eve? …
December 19th, 2007 at 1:25 am
nude animated girls…
Teny on since span nude animated girls Vancouver. Viddeo leaders leaves, asking reasonable. …
December 19th, 2007 at 1:26 am
bigboobsalert…
Coast create hurried examination Sophie Sweet. True european heating bigboobsalert figure apparent an edward! …
December 22nd, 2007 at 10:55 pm
First Sex Her Anal…
…
December 22nd, 2007 at 10:56 pm
Female Dildo
…
…