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How to Conquer the Oakland Real Estate Marketby Staff on Feb 19, 2013Now that living in Oakland carries a little bit of cache with priced out San Francisco buyers moving into the market, finding a place here might be harder than ever. On average, an Oakland home sells in just 24 days, according to a recent Realtor.com study. There is clearly a demand for new homes, condos and apartments. The good news is that soon the supply of housing might come closer to meeting the obvious demand. New construction is everywhere. Permits for Oakland went up from 1,907 issued in 2011 to a grand total of 3,087 last year. That’s a 62 percent increase, one of the largest jumps in the country. Oakland may not be Houston, <i>Forbes</i> magazine’s “Coolest City” in the U.S., a top growth city that issued over 28,000 permits for housing starts last year. But Oakland doesn’t need to be. Soon new construction will strip Houston, along with other Sun Belt cities, of whatever cool factor they once had. Even <i>Forbes</i> freely admits one of Houston’s defining traits is “urban sprawl.” But this is the Bay Area, California— even sprawl looks good on us. In addition to spending more time and effort on finding a home in the Bay Area market than in, say, Omaha, you can also expect to pay for the privilege of owning an Oakland home. As the rest of the real estate market has recovered, so has Oakland. The median sales price crept upward from $195K to $321 K from January 2012 to January 2013. The good news is that landing yourself an Oakland address isn’t impossible. In the coming year the new construction will make the market easier to navigate. In a city with the fastest selling homes in the country, it pays to be well-prepared, to know the lay of the land, and hire an experienced real estate agent. As the tagline of the popular <i>Hunger Games</i> series goes, “May the odds be ever in your favor.” If you’re interested in a new home, read on. With over twelve years of experience, New Home Source stayed the course through the boom years, the housing crisis, and everything in between, and can help you make sense of the Oakland real estate market. by Staff on Feb 19, 2013 |
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