Commuters save $15,500 per mile on housing

Housing prices in the 209 are back to the future.

The median resale housing price has rebounded to 2001 levels throughout much of the region.

In Manteca they climbed to $213,900 in June. That’s a 29 percent jump from June 2012. It compares to $218,500 in 2001. It’s up $35,900 from 2009 at the low point of the Great Recession but still has $210,500 to go until it reaches the historical median high of $429,000 set in 2005.

It took four years (2001 to 2005) for median resale prices to go from the $210,000 range to $429,000.

No one is predicting value will come back that quick but there are indications double digit gains are going to be the trend in home values for years to come. That’s because prices throughout the 209 region and Bay Area have climbed between 23.3 percent and 31.1 percent depending upon the locale.

The prices most likely to impact the 209 — those in Livermore and Pleasanton — saw the median resale home price that went into escrow hit $525,100 and $837,000 respectively. By extending the one-way drive 6.3 miles from Pleasanton to Livermore buyers can save $50,000 per mile they commute. Going another 20 miles from Livermore to Tracy the median home prices change is $11,000 per mile driven one way. Go from Tracy to Manteca and you save $6,000 per mile. Head down to Turlock from Manteca and you save $800 a mile.

Likewise from Pleasanton to Manteca the 41.6 mile one-way distance translates into a $15,500 per mile savings. The question is whether a 46-minute additional commute when the freeways aren’t jammed is worth it for people who live in the Livermore Valley and commute to jobs in San Jose, Silicon Valley and elsewhere in the Bay Area.

Home prices in most of the 209 are going to be virtually in lock step with price jumps in the Bay Area for obvious reasons. The higher prices go there, the more people heading east to find homes they can afford.

Written by : dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com