Market Snapshot: Aug. 1, 2008                                Buyers are Buying! While we normally expect a slow-down during the summer months, our local markets are continuing to be fueled by buyers who see this as a very opportune time to buy. "REO" Opportunity Time For Buyers This acronym is seen frequently in news stories. What is an REO? An REO, or Real Estate Owned,  property is a property that is owned by a financial institution as a result of an unsuccessful foreclosure auction or a forfeiture. Another often seen term is SHORT SALE. A short sale is the sale of an asset for less than the loan balance. The lender must agree to the terms of a short sale. The chart below shows REO and short-sale active listings and closed sales in our local market areas during the past month. Antioch is included to show the significant numbers of REO's in East County of Contra Costa.   Active Listings that are REO Properties, Aug. 1, 2008 Single-Family Detached All Actives    % Antioch 656 879 75% Livermore 118 342 35% Concord 78 379 21% San Ramon 54 236 23% Dublin 33 121 27% Martinez 32 147 22% Danville 26 214 12% Pleasanton 26 270 10% Pleasant Hill 21 94 22% Walnut Creek 15 190 8% Lafayette 9 96 9% Clayton 7 44 16% Alamo 4 100 4% Orinda 4 75 5% Blackhawk 1 80 1% Moraga 0 21 0 Diablo 0 10 0 Conclusions: These numbers should help put the real estate newspaper headlines for Contra Costa county into perspective. East County has been hit very hard during our current real estate market. Our other local markets have also been affected but in varying degrees, as shown. The lending crisis began to significantly impact the larger loans in August of 2007. According to Dataquick Information Services, before the credit crunch hit last August, jumbo mortgages (over $417,000) made up nearly 65 percent of all Bay Area purchase loans. In June, 2008, they accounted for 28.8 percent, up from 28.4 percent in May. Those numbers should gradually improve as investors return to the jumbo loan market and more funds become available.   Closed Sales July, 08 REO Properties Single-Family Detached Antioch 144 Concord 59 Livermore 27 Dublin 12 San Ramon 11 Martinez 10 Pleasant Hill 10 Walnut Creek 4 Danville 4 Pleasanton 4 Orinda 2 Lafayette 1 Diablo 1 Alamo 0 Blackhawk 0 Clayton 0 Moraga 0 *These figures for both charts come from our MLS. There may be others that were listed in another category or the word REO or short sale was not used in any field. Homes not listed on our local MLS are not included.  Year-to-Date Closed Sales single family detached homes Recent Months Compared     5/1/08 6/1/08 7/1/08 8/1/08 Alamo 32 42 53 79 Blackhawk 15 18 25 33 Clayton 26 35 52 62 Concord 211 285 373 477 Danville 92 125 165 195 Dublin 52 78 107 141 Lafayette 49 82 107 125 Livermore 171 237 318 394 Martinez 59 78 112 140 Moraga 25 32 43 52 Orinda 36 51 70 90 Pleasant Hill 44 69 91 119 Pleasanton 103 147 203 259 San Ramon 148 196 252 311 Walnut Creek 98 128 168 215 Conclusion: This year the summer has continued to be very active in selected price ranges. Some communities have slowed as expected, but there are price ranges that have experienced hectic activity, i.e. $700,000-$800,000 price range in the Danville area and Walnut Creek during the past month or so.       Quick Look:      5 local communities Here's a snapshot below of recent market activity in 5 selected local communities. Calculations were done from about the 5th to the 5th of each of the months below.  This information is intended as a general market overview. There may be some inaccuracies in these figures and the source data. CLOSED BELOW ASKING 9/07 10/07 11/07 12/07 1/08 2/08 3/08 4/08 5/08 6/08 7/08 Alamo 9 7 4 5 4 11 8 10 8 10 12 Danville 19 23 13 17 11 29 24 19 32 34 26 Walnut Creek 18 13 14 14 13 29 22 18 28 30 29 Lafayette 5 12 6 6 4 8 12 7 18 18 9 Orinda 8 9 8 6 8 12 3 3 11 11 12 Totals 59 64 45 48 40 89 69 57 97 103 88 CLOSED AT ASKING PRICE 9/07 10/07 11/07 12/07 1/08 2/08 3/08 4/08 5/08 6/08 7/08 Alamo 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 2 Danville 3 0 2 2 1 2 0 3 1 3 0 Walnut Creek 1 6 3 5 2 2 1 4 2 5 5 Lafayette 2 4 1 0 0 1 5 4 5 3 2 Orinda 1 9 2 1 3 1 3 2 3 3 2 Totals 10 19 8 8 6 6 10 14 12 14 11 CLOSED OVER ASKING 9/07 10/07 11/07 12/07 1/08 2/08 3/08 4/08 5/08 6/08 7/08 Alamo 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 Danville 0 1 2 0 1 0 1 3 2 2 3 Walnut Creek 4 1 0 2 1 2 8 5 5 2 4 Lafayette 5 6 3 2 0 5 4 5 7 3 4 Orinda 2 3 2 2 2 4 5 3 2 3 4 Totals 12 12 8 6 4 12 18 16 17 10 16   PENDING SALES 9/07 10/07 11/07 12/07 1/08 2/08 3/08 4/08 5/08  6/08 7/08 Alamo 8 10 10 11 9 14 18 17 22 23 14 Danville 37 29 33 25 27 41 39 45 55 43 58 Walnut Creek 28 33 32 25 37 37 47 52 58 74 68 Lafayette 20 19 14 10 11 31 33 46 33 31 39 Orinda 15 14 14 10 14 13 16 20 27 20 15 Totals 108 105 103 81 98 136 153 180 195 191 194 Conclusions: In most years, summer sales slow down. However, in these selected communities, you can see that PENDING SALES in the past month did not decline as might have been expected but remained strong during July, normally a slower month. It also shows that there are some homes that are selling at asking price and even over asking price. Those numbers have held consistently strong this spring.   ______________   Closed Sales Reported to CCAR MLS Selected Communities Single Family Detached Homes 8/1/08     Active Listings (1st of month)    Closed Sales Year-to-Date (1st of month) AVERAGE Closed Sales Prices   Area 8/07 8/08 % 8/07    8/08 %   2007 ytd July   ytd Aug % +/- last 2 months  Alamo 83 100 +20% 114 79 -31% $1,662,983 $1,506,065 $1,567,355 +4%  Blackhawk 53 80 +51% 62 33 -47% $1,533,339 $1,508,709 $1,437,774 -5%  Clayton 60 44 -27% 71 62 -13% $780,892 $666,211 $675,739 +1%  Concord 550 379 -31% 439 477 +9% $581,945 $415,595 $407,409 -2%  Danville 180 214 +19% 314 195 -38% $1,135,693 $1,059,836 $1,068,905 -1%  Dublin 155 121 -22% 200 141 -30% $820,105 $632,407 $682,618 +8%  Lafayette 72 96 +33% 196 125 -36% $1,252,175 $1,284,750 $1,293,884 +1%  Livermore 424 342 -19% 497 394 -21% $738,121 $603,243 $592,997 -2%  Martinez 216 147 -32%  178 140 -21% $569,630 $476,973 $469,094 -2%  Moraga 21 21 0% 65 52 -20% $1,136,500 $1,072,684 $1,115,424 +4%  Orinda 55 75 +36% 119 90 -24% $1,304,113 $1,348,433 $1,305,155 -3%  Pleasant H 110 94 -15% 176 119