Record housing sales for Manteca?

New, existing sales may soar past 1,400 for 2009

Manteca is 27 days away from setting two housing market records – one for the most homes sold overall and the other for the most previously owned homes closing escrow.

There were 1,116 existing homes that have sold so far in 2009 as of Tuesday. Based on the sales pace of the last five weeks, at least 80 of the 201 pending sales should close by year’s end to bring completed transactions close to 1,200 homes.

That will top the record of 1,165 existing home sold in 2008.

Add the 220-plus new homes that are expected to have sold in Manteca by year’s end and Manteca will have experienced just over 1,400 overall home sales in 2009 – another housing mark.

Even though resale transactions will top 2008 levels, the overall dollar amount won’t. Although just 49 fewer homes have been sold in 2009 with three weeks to go compared to all of 2008, there is a huge gap in combined dollar value. Resale transactions were at $262,125,000 in 2008 compared to $185,690,000 to date this year. That reflects the nearly $50,000 difference in the median selling price between the two years with 2009 coming in at $175,350 per home so far and $225,000 in 2008. New home sales in 2008 are expected to hit $77,000,000.

Early indications are that the median price will start going up in 2010. That’s based on 201 pending sales with a median pending price of $192,900 or $27,550 higher than the 2009 median selling price to date.

Experts, though, caution that doesn’t mean prices are rising across the board. It does mean that buyers are now purchasing larger and newer homes that were going largely untouched as buyers scrambled to snap up lower priced properties.

When that happens, it brings up the median price.

By Dennis Wyatt
Managing Editor
dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com
209-249-3532

POSTED Dec. 4, 2009