Pleasant Hill home prices have risen quicker this year than at any time during the last housing boom. To show you just how much and to give you an easy way to put it all in perspective I’ve created the chart above. This chart shows the average sales price for a three bedroom one bath home between a thousand and eleven hundred square feet. I chose this type of home because it is the most plentiful type of home in the area. It allows us to make a real apples to apples comparison. Even though we’ve made incredible gains this year so far, values for this type of home are still twenty eight percent lower than the peak year in 2005.
The real question on everyone’s mind is what direction are prices headed next. Interest rates did bump up in July which took a little steam out of the local housing market but all indicators are that prices continue to rise, albeit at a slower pace. Inventory is rising a little bit and the average days a home stays on the market before selling are getting a little bit longer. I think this just reflects a more normal and realistic real estate market.
Keep an eye on interest rates and you’ll get a good idea of which direction the market will head next. Even though interest rates have gone up a full percentage point from the low in March 2013 they still remain very low based on historical standards.
