I have an exciting announcement for this month…. as we wrapped up Q2 and the first half of the year on Aug 1st, my assistant manager walked in my office and told me I was still holding as the number ONE individual agent in Carmel! I was also awarded by Sotheby’s International Realty for being in the Top 100 Agents in the US for the second quarter in a row. Proud moments but my friends hate me because I’m never around.

On the Peninsula side of things, last weekend wrapped up Car Week 2023- it was a huge hit! Big crowds, beautiful, old and fast automobiles, and all the usual shows combined with people watching on a level you’d only get if you mixed the Disney World monorail crowd with the one at the Emmy’s. Ocean Avenue in downtown Carmel created a new runway style, one-way only concours for all the car enthusiasts looking to show their cars and rev their way up the street for all the people cheering on the sidewalks. It was a lot of fun and gave me all sorts of ideas about what to put in my garage next. And the “influences” were out in full force. Our little town is most definitely, on the map now.

On the real estate side of things we started to see a little bit of traction in the high-end that I haven’t seen much of in the last 12 months. To be fair, most of this traction occurred prior to Car Week and wasn’t the result of any particular event, however there was a new contingent sale or two during that time, including the “Sea Glass” sale on the Southeast Corner of Scenic and 9th , which had been on the market for 209 days, and recently reduced from $18,500,000 to $16,995,000. There was also a closing in the Santa Lucia Preserve at $12.5M, and one in Pebble Beach at $13.2M. So, not anything like the movement we were seeing in 2021, but no housing crash here. Certainly some softening has taken place, but we seem to finding an equilibrium, temporary or permanent as that may end of being. Nationally, nearly 60% of metro areas reported home price gains in second quarter 2023. July saw the US median sale price climb to $426K for only the second time in history.

What’s happening on the ground here in Carmel? In short, its become increasingly more important to price your home very accurately; even as a little bit of “a deal”, in the eyes of the market. Generally we’re seeing the best deal in each product category sell first, causing the other homes to sit for longer periods of time. Days on Market are up 50% since this time last year; sold listings are down 27%. In many cases, either your home sells right away, or it sits on the market for months, the market appearing more and more to offer only a bimodal outcome to seller. There are a bit more unknowns these days… Many 30 year mortgages are in the 7 percentile now, but buyers seem to be slowly acclimating to the new norm and are engaging on what they see as well priced real estate. For unique locations or truly one-of-a-kind properties, we are seeing things hang on and continue to command firm numbers, typically in the prime parts of downtown Carmel, more than any other area. Inventory supply is up 56% year over year, however inventory would still be considered tight which is bolstering median and average sale prices throughout the Monterey Peninsula. Average Carmel price per square foot is down just 5%.

We have a couple of very interesting recent sales and some new inventory on market this last week. Please scroll down to see some video and photos. And as always, please reach out if you or any loved ones would benefit from our services.

Cheers,
Ryan