Whenever we talk about real estate market averages, we’re talking about abstractions that fall apart when you look more closely. 

The market in Granite Bay is a luxury real estate market with high end homes.  As such, you’d expect it to behave differently than other markets — and you’d be right. 

In 2007, for example, 258 homes sold in Granite Bay, so unit volume was down only 4.4% from the volume in 2006.  Likewise, homes held their value quite well compared to other markets.  Sold price per square foot dropped only 1.9% from year to year, from an average of $287.25 in 2006 to an average of $281.69 in 2007.

In 2007, the average home sold for slightly more than in 2006.  2007’s average sale price was $919,713, up .2% from 2006’s average sale price of $919,778.  The median price also rose from year to year.  In 2006, the median sale price of a home in Granite Bay was $791,000.  In 2007, the median sale price had risen to $805,000, a 1.8% increase.

Unlike other areas, prices in Granite Bay have not come tumbling down as a result of huge numbers of foreclosures being heavily discounted.  We did see more foreclosures in 2007 than 2006, but the absolute numbers are still small.  Throughout 2007, for example, only fourteen of the 258 homes that sold were bank foreclosures (5.4%).  Short sales accounted for only another nine sales (3.5% of the total).

The one indicator that did change pretty dramatically from year to year was time on market.  Average days on market rose from 36 during 2006 to 64 days in 2007.

An average of twenty homes change hand each month in Granite Bay, and there are 180 homes available in the MLS.  Currently, therefore, in Granite Bay there are 9 months of homes in inventory.