RISMEDIA, July 23, 2009-Eight out of 10 of the country’s hottest zip codes for home sales are located in California- Bay Area: Oakland (94606 and 94601), Richmond (94805)- Southern California: San Pedro (90731), San Diego (92114), Hermosa Beach (90254), Chula Vista (91913), Rialto (92376). Those areas fetch the highest sales-to-list price ratio for sold homes among 31 markets served by real estate brokerage ZipRealty.
On the cold end of the spectrum, six of the 10 ZIP codes selling the most below asking price are located in Florida- Miami (33142), Palm Beach (33462), Boca Raton (33431), Fort Lauderdale (33331), Saint Petersburg (33707), and Naples (34102).
According to ZipRealty’s Q2 “Home Hunter Report,” Phoenix and five nearby cities- Scottsdale, Chandler, Gilbert, Mesa and Glendale- along with two Las Vegas suburbs- Summerlin and Henderson- rounded out by Orlando and Atlanta ranked as the most popular cities in the U.S. for homebuyers, according to the number of home searches on www.ZipRealty.com in Q2 of 2009.
“As housing inventory shrinks dramatically across many California markets and banks and sellers are pricing homes low enough to drive buyer demand, we’re actually seeing bidding wars again in some places,” said Leslie Tyler, vice president and chief home hunter for ZipRealty. “However, many California banks may be holding onto ‘shadow inventory,’ or distressed properties that are not yet listed in the MLS, meaning more homes could come on the market pretty quickly to change the dynamic. In markets like Southern Florida that still show relatively high inventory levels, banks and sellers are accepting offers well below asking price,” continued Tyler. “These are the markets where buyers are getting the biggest discounts off sellers’ asking prices.”
Distressed properties (foreclosures and short sales) in four of the country’s five most affected housing markets- Phoenix, Las Vegas, Southern California, and Sacramento- are spending on average the same amount of time on the market in Q2 2009 as they did one year ago, in Q2 2008. Only one market, Ft. Myers/Naples, Fla., has seen a sustained decrease in days on market, as properties sold more than 39% faster on average in Q2 2009 than in Q2 2008.
For more information, visit www.ziprealty.com.
