Welcome back to the Brentwood Market Update for January.  I have a lot of information to cover so let’s begin by taking a look at the year that was and then follow that up with a glimpse of what to expect in 2012.

2011 in general saw things pick up in regards to the Westside real estate market.  Banks slowly made progress clearing out their inventory of foreclosed properties, and the term ‘short sale’ became a household phrase. Looking at Brentwood single family homes, a total of 175 were sold last year, down from 193 in 2010, but the average sales price saw a healthy increase from $2.316 million to almost $2.475 million.

In addition, dollars per square foot rose slightly – from $729 in 2010 to $734 last year.  Note that these numbers were taken straight from the Multiple Listing Service, and there were many more quiet sales or pocket listings that succesfully closed escrow.

Many analysts look at the pace of higher end home sales as a determinant when predicting whether a particular market is poised to rebound or vice versa.  In Brentwood, the number of homes sold between $2 million and $5 million grew modestly from 64 in 2010 to 70 last year, while the number of home sales over $5 million jumped from nine to 12.  Developers were still mostly on the sidelines last year as only four new construction homes were sold.

Looking at the current numbers, there are 75 single family homes available for purchase in Brentwood, with another 30 in escrow.  Of those 30, 16 have opened escrow since the first of the year – basically one new escrow for each business day in January, a very healthy number.  Furthermore, through the first 3+ weeks in January, we’ve already seen 10 homes close escrow – compared with 6 in January 2011 and 12 in January 2010.

Shifting to the condo market, the numbers look a little different comparing last year over 2010.  For starters, there were over 20% more units sold in 2011 than the year before (158 vs 131), many of which were ‘distressed properties’ – ones that are bank owned or short pays.  The number of distressed condo sales jumped from 12 (9% 0f all condo sales) in 2010 to 29 (18%) last year.

Bank involved sales often lead to lower price points, and that is largely why the median condo priced dipped from $682,000 in 2010 to $590,000 in 2011.  However, dollars per square foot were down only about 1.5% – from $438 in 2010 to $432 last year.

At present there are 62 condo units for sale in Brentwood, with another 14 in escrow.  8 units have already closed escrow through the first 3 weeks of 2012, so it looks like there is a good pulse to the market right off the bat.

With prices holding steady, interest rates still at historic lows, and the lending requirements starting to ease up ever so slightly, the expectations are for an even better marketplace in 2012.  Subscribe to my blog for up to date market analysis as well as restaurant reviews, 405 construction updates, and much more.

Join me next month for my next market update, and feel free to drop me a line if you have any real estate questions or are interested in all things Brentwood.