The Bay Areas Real Estate Information Systems (BAREIS) Multiple Listing Service (MLS) for Marin County, CA, just released 2008 Year-End Statistics in comparison to those of 2005, 2006 and 2007.
A Reminder and/or Refresher - 2005 and 2006 were full blown Sellers Market in Marin County where houses wentin a blink of eye and multiple offers abound, while 2007 saw the tail end of the frenzy sellers market, and the start of slight downturn.
By 2008, everything changed. 2008 was a very difficult year for sellers - starting with the bubble deflating, and lending industry collasping where there was virtually no money to lend for a while and interest rate, oil price increased in response, stock market crashing, etc, etc.......
We started to see Distressed Homes for Sale - starting with Loan Modification, Short Sales with Notice of Default filed, Notice of Trustee Sale sent and finally, Foreclosures (Bank Owned, REO) These events all push prices down and making buyers wait - for the lowest (bottom) of the market- BTW, is there such a thing call the Bottom of the Market while you are in the thick of it? (Good thing is things started to stabilized some)
So, with that introduction.. here are the charts released by BAREIS MLS just today (01/30/09).
Marin County 2008 Year-End
In Comparison to 2007, 2006, and 2005
The numbers provided are based on the number of Single Family Residential, Condo/Co-Op, Farms and Ranches sold in Marin County, CA (BAREIS)
NUMBER OF HOME UNITS SOLD in MARIN COUNTY - number of homes sold saw a stead decline from 2005 to 2008.
3407 in 2005
2844 in 2006 83.5% of 2005
2507 in 2007 88.2% of 2006
2081 in 2008 83% of 2007
2008 figures is 61.1% of 2005 - Sales volume is definely down
AVERAGE SELLING PRICE for MARIN COUNTY HOMES (Average Selling Price means adding up all Marin Real Estate sales and divide that by number of units for that year) At the end of 2008, we are back to 2005 figure
$1,078,819 in 2005
$1,091,526 in 2006 101.18% of 2005
$1,223,678 in 2007 112.11% of 2006
$1,075,,500 in 2008 87.89% of 2007
2008 figure is 99.69% of 2005 - back to 2005 level
MEDIAN PRICE FOR ALL HOMES SOLD IN MARIN COUNTY (Median Price is the middle price for all Marin Homes Sales)
$850,000 in 2005
$864,500 in 2006 101.71% of 2005
$900,000 in 2007 104.11% of 2006
$790,000 in 2008 87.78% of 2007
Median Price stayed stable over thru 2007, with a big dip in 2008 - many homes sold are Short Sales, REOs (Bank Owned/Foreclosures).
2008 is 92.94% of 2005 - not that bad!
AVERAGE DAYS ON MARKET FOR MARIN COUNTY HOMES SOLD
Number of Days on Market saw steady climb.
47 in 2005
67 in 2006 142.55% over 2005
73 in 2007 108.96% over 2006
83 IN 2008 1.137% over 2007
2008 is 176.60% (Almost 3/4 additional) DOM compare to 2005
Sylvia Barry
, Realtor, ePRO
Marin Realtor for Marin Real Estate
Marin, San Francisco North Bay
Frankk Howard Allen Realtors
website: www.SylviaSellsMarin.com
Blog: www.AllAboutMarinHomes.com
MARIN, SONOMA, S.F. BAY AREA REAL ESTATE - Beveldere, Corte Madera, Greenbrae, Kentfield, Larkspur, Marinwood, Mill Valley, Novato, San Anselmo, San Rafael, Sausalito, Tiburon; Cotati, Penngrove, Petaluma, Rohnert Park, Santa Rosa. Starter Home to Luxury Property. REO (Bank Owned), Short Sale, View Homes, Architecural Distictive Homes. Investment, 1031 Exchange. Chinese Realtor.
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One of the questions I have been asked repeatly now a days is how do foreclosures, bank owned, short sales, and other properties affect the Marin Housing Market? Are the prices of homes dropping due to increases in pre-foreclosures, short sales and/or bank owned homes? 
Here is my answer to the questions on how the foreclosures and Bank Owned properties are affecting Marin Real Estate Market:-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The buyers who could not afford before, the bargain hunters, the ones who sold their homes before the market drop and are renting now, the investors, ..,etc are taking full advantage of this market and the declin(ed,ing) interest rate. 
My clients and I looked at many areas, tons of houses, spend lots of months, and at times, write several offers before they get the best deals on the houses they want and need. But that's what it takes in Real Estate, before, now and in the future, to get the right house
Central heat
Calling newly minted Marin Homeowners - Do you know....
If the home is purchased after January 1st, the exemption is applied to the supplemental assessment, unless the prior owner received the exemption on the secured bill. The claim has to be filed within 30 days of the homeowners supplemental notice. A partial exemption is approved, if the claim form is returned prior to the due date of the first installment of the supplemental bill. More information may be obtained by calling (415) 499-7195.
As is the tradition of the 
The proceeds go to 2009