National Housing Stats Show Continued Softness

National housing statistics confirm what we already know about the local Pleasanton area real estate market... the market is soft. Nationally, the supply of resale homes is the highest in 13 years, rising to a 7.3 month supply, up nearly 40% from a year earlier.

The increase in supply is due in part to a building boom in 2005, which saw a record number of new homes enter the market. A large percentage of those new homes were intially bought by investors, and home builders have reporting that many of those are now putting those homes up for sale as they attempt to exit the cooling residential real estate market.

"Clearly, there is an uncomfortable amount of supply in the existing home market," said Phillip Neuhart, economist with Wachovia. He said that he expected many discouraged home sellers would soon pull their houses off the market, especially if they are not getting the prices they believe their homes to be worth.

The glut of homes on the market has cooled off if not killed the white-hot home price gains of a year ago.

All regions of the country outside of the South saw a year-over-year decline in median home prices in July, and the South posted only a 3.2 percent year-over-year rise in median home price. Median price is the point at which the same number of homes sell for more and less.

Memo to buyers...this is a great time to buy a house in Pleasanton and the Tri-Valley!

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