Contra Costa County 2009 Annual Real Estate Market Trends

Home Sales Bounce Back in 2009

After falling for five years in a row, home sales rose in 2009 by 3.2%, helped along by a spate of bank-owned properties. Home sales accelerated during the last six months of the year as bargain hunters snapped up bank-owned properties.

In other positive signs, pending sales were up for the last six months of the year, compared to the year before. Which begs the question, then why weren't home sales up more than five months? Well, that's because many of these escrows fell out on low appraisals and buyers having difficulty obtaining loans. We hope to see the loan situation ease this year, but with the securitized mortgage market dead, dead, dead, banks are having to keep mortgage loans on their books, so they're being very picky about whom they lend to.

The best bet for loans right now is FHA because the Feds are buying their mortgages hoping to inject some capital into the system.

The median price for single-family homes in Contra Costa County fell for the second year in a row, dropping 12.1%. The average price fell 14.7%.

The median price for condos dropped 21.9%. Condo sales were up 8.6%.

Contra Costa County
(Single Family Homes)
  Average Median Units     Percent Change
Price Price Sold DOM SP/LP Average Median Sold
1998 $362,199 $314,900 7,859 54 97.4%      
1999 $422,561 $370,000 7,242 28 97.8% 16.7% 17.5% -7.9%
2000 $534,948 $455,000 6,529 20 99.7% 26.6% 23.0% -9.8%
2001 $555,372 $486,000 5,180 25 96.7% 3.8% 6.8% -20.7%
2002 $618,710 $550,000 6,238 22 98.2% 11.4% 13.2% 20.4%
2003 $668,272 $590,000 6,364 31 98.4% 8.0% 7.3% 2.0%
2004 $754,981 $667,000 5,085 22 100.4% 13.0% 13.1% -20.1%
2005 $882,108 $780,000 4,301 21 101.4% 16.8% 16.9% -15.4%
2006 $918,770 $790,500 4,146 23 98.5% 4.2% 1.3% -3.6%
2007 $948,063 $835,000 3,663 41 97.8% 3.2% 5.6% -11.6%
2008 $749,358 $659,475 3,557 65 96.7% -21.0% -21.0% -2.9%
2009 $639,056 $580,000 3,671 66 96.8% -14.7% -12.1% 3.2%

The charts below have the average price in the thousands.

Contra Costa County
(Condos/Town Homes)
  Average Median Units     Percent Change
Price Price Sold DOM SP/LP Average Median Sold
1998 $173,453 $158,250 2,590 45 97.9%      
1999 $187,017 $159,000 3,765 21 99.0% 7.8% 0.5% 45.4%
2000 $225,912 $200,000 3,737 35 100.7% 20.8% 25.8% -0.7%
2001 $259,205 $235,000 3,189 25 99.3% 14.7% 17.5% -14.7%
2002 $288,021 $265,000 3,674 27 99.2% 11.1% 12.8% 15.2%
2003 $312,236 $292,500 3,944 28 99.3% 8.4% 10.4% 7.3%
2004 $353,768 $329,500 3,395 21 101.0% 13.3% 12.6% -13.9%
2005 $447,585 $411,975 2,850 18 101.8% 26.5% 25.0% -16.1%
2006 $451,205 $416,000 2,498 31 99.2% 0.8% 1.0% -12.4%
2007 $450,646 $430,000 1,678 53 97.9% -0.1% 3.4% -32.8%
2008 $347,608 $320,000 1,588 79 96.3% -22.9% -25.6% -5.4%
2009 $283,103 $250,000 1,724 71 97.8% -18.6% -21.9% 8.6%