Piedmont, CA (PRWEB) March 01, 2014
The California Association of Realtors® (CAR) reported that home sales were flat in January(1) in part because of restricted inventory, tightened lending standards, and increasing interest rates. While Anian Tunney, a real estate agent broker in Piedmont, CA sympathizes with home buyers about inventory, the complaints over interest rates strikes her as almost humorous. “The average annual interest rate in 2000 was 8.05%, that the average interest rate since then has been below 7% is a sign that our economy never recovered from the bust of the dot-com bubble.”(2)
It does appear that the current set of families in a position to upgrade their homes – opening lower cost inventory – has a collective interest rate memory of fewer than 5 years. In January 2014, the average fixed-rate mortgage rate was 4.43%. It was 5.05% in January 2009, yet home sales were over double of those in January 2008. “Why was 5.05% so wonderful in 2009 and the idea of 5% in 2014 so frightful?” asks Tunney.
Spring is traditionally a popular time to buy a home, and it looks like it will be again as the unsold inventory rose in January to 4.3 months. While up from December’s three-month inventory, it is still well short of the six- to seven-month supply considered typical. Being California, however, that supply is disproportionally over the $1,000,000 mark such as Piedmont home for sale 305 Hillside Avenue, offered at $2,895,000. Tunney notes that the square footage of homes in Piedmont, Oakland and Berkeley is much less than other upscale cities around the bay.
Despite the increase of higher end inventory in January, the overall median home price (the point where half of the homes sold was less and half were more) in California fell in January from $438,090 to $410,990. The Bay Area’s median home price fell from $666,760 to $630,470. 150 Requa Road in Piedmont, on the market for $7,400,000 is currently in contract.
About Anian Tunney, Broker Associate
Anian Tunney is an agent broker with The Grubb Company. According to statistics collected by East Bay Regional Data, Inc., she was the 2013 number one real estate agent in Piedmont, CA for the number of units sold and sales volume. Additionally, Tunney is always in the top two in yearly real estate sales for The Grubb Company’s Piedmont, office. She is known for her knowledge, experience, and network in the Piedmont community; qualities which are invaluable for finding that special home or buyers for her clients.
A fifth generation Piedmont resident, Tunney has been with the Grubb Company for over 30 years. She raised her family of four in Piedmont and is active in community projects such as the Piedmont Beautification Foundation, and the East Bay Museum Auxiliary. Her grandmother, Amy Sutton, was a real estate agent, and now Anian works with her daughter Adrienne Krumins, making Piedmont Realty truly a family vocation. Tunney negotiates with grace and clarity of purpose. She can be contacted at 510-339-0400 ext 217, and at tunney(at)grubbco(dot)com. Her website is aniantunney.com.
Contact Information
Anian Tunney
The Grubb Company Real Estate Brokers
Oakland, CA 94611
510-339-0400 ext 217
tunney(at)grubbco(dot)com
aniantunney.com
aniantunney.com/blog
(1) http://www.car.org/newsstand/newsreleases/2014releases/jan2014sales
(2) Interest rate information from http://www.freddiemac.com/pmms/pmms30.htm