Marin home values back up from recession
Media site: www.marinij.com
Co-Cities: Marin County, and San Diego
Primary URL reference: http://www.zillow.com/local-info/CA-Marin-County-home-value/r_625/
By Christina Sturgis
Marin median home values are back up to pre-recession levels, according to Zillow.
The San Francisco Bay county has a median home value of $807,000, about the same as 2008 when the recession officially began. That is about 20 percent higher than a year ago this June and it is only piece of the California recovery.
One family friendly community in Marin County is Mill Valley, where the school district has five elementary schools and a middle school scoring a perfect ten from the ranking service GreatSchools. Mill Valley students attend Tamalpais High School, which scored eight on the Great Schools scale, also in the excellent range.
The county that claims to be the birthplace of mountain biking features many properties that integrate natural features into the living areas. For example, a farmhouse offered for $1,695,000 on Tennessee Avenue in Mill Valley, for example, is nestled into a hillside, features abundant natural light indoors, professionally landscaped terraced gardens and an outdoor hot tub.
California real estate values are rising. The California median price is$368,000 with Los Angeles topping the chart with a median home price of $1 million, followed by San Jose and San Diego tying at about $900,000 each.
Marin County residents have higher incomes and more education than San Diego residents.
The median income in Marin County is $89,605 with only 7.2 percent living at or below the poverty level. Of residents aged 25 and older, 54 percent have a bachelor’s degree or advanced degrees.
The city sometimes jokingly referred to as “Sandy Ego” has a median income of $63,857 and 13 percent below the poverty level. The percentage of residents over age 25 with a bachelor’s degree or advanced degrees is 34 percent. (This piece was prepared in July 2018 for the Marin Independent Journal through the Zillow Newspaper Consortium.)
Published Aug. 10, 2015
Tampa Homes in Reach for Young Buyers
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By Christina Sturgis
The forecast for young home buyers in the Sunshine State is mixed, according to Zillow, but Hillsborough County can help brighten the outlook.
Zillow analyzed the prices of homes listed for sale in five Florida metropolitan areas and compared them against the median incomes of millennials – those 23 to 34 years old – to determine what percentage of homes were within the youngest buyers’ grasp.
Nationwide, 70 percent of homes listed for sale are affordable for this set of potential homeowners. In Tampa, the percentage is 71 percent and in nearby Lakeland, the percentage is 78 percent – with the most optimistic outlook in the state.
Elsewhere in Florida, the picture is cloudier for young buyers with much lower percentages of homes in the affordable range:
• Miami, 44 percent
• Orlando, 57 percent
• Sarasota, 46 percent
Yet, Florida is relatively affordable for those who came of age in the new millennium, unlike the nation’s highest priced markets. Here are the least affordable metropolitan areas and Zillow’s analysis of the percentage of millennials that can buy homes:
• New York City, 46 percent
• San Francisco, 36 percent
• Los Angeles, 26 percent
• Honolulu, 25 percent
Tampa’s median home value is $150,900, a bit lower than the national value of $179,200. One reason may be the percentage of mortgages with negative equity is higher as well – 19.2 percent in Tampa and 15.4 percent in the nation. Negative equity is what homeowners have when they owe more on their mortgage than the market value of their property.
For those living in Hillsborough, the county has programs to help first-time home buyers. This includes down payment assistance for prospective buyers whose income is less than 80 percent of the area median. (This article was prepared for the Zillow Newspaper Consortium.)