Interesting – this is consistent with our observation that properties seem to be staying on the market much longer.
From San Jose Mercury News – Home sales hit 5-year low but Bay Area median prices rise in January:
Bay Area home sales plunged last month to the lowest level in five years, another signal that 2006 won’t bring a repeat of last year’s sizzling real estate market.
…
Howard Bloom, an agent with Intero Real Estate who works primarily in Mountain View, said home sellers can no longer expect multiple purchase offers and overbidding. He tells sellers, “Don’t put your house on the market at a price you’re not willing to accept,” he said.
As someone looking to buy a house (we sold ours last year, and are renting a house now) at some point again (maybe), I can tell you without a doubt that there’s not a chance we’re going to be buying anything anytime soon unless sellers stop being greedy. I’m not going to pay over 900k for a 2000 sq ft house which hasn’t been remodeled in over 30 years. If prices ever became reasonable, we’d snap something up in a heartbeat.