There is still $1 million dollar home buyers out there.
But there are not just as many.
And they’re favoring newly constructed homes.
That said, even with 270 plus listings for stand-alone homes new and existing under $950,000 in Manteca, there are 42 homes that are pending. Thirty-two of those are existing homes.
The other 10 are new homes and reflect a trend by new home builders that happens when the market slows. New home builders list homes on the Metro List and are willing to pay commission to make deals.
The more robust market as you drop down in price when rates rise reflects the reduced amount of money buyers can spent on a home purchase.
It creates a situation where prices may still drop after homes have been listed for a while and don’t get offers but the lower you go the pressure to reduce prices softens. That’s because there are people who normally would be in the hunt for more expensive homes that tend to be newer that start looking at homes in lower price ranges that may have less items on their wish and/or want list for features.
The new homes selling are between $600,000 and $750,000 while existing homes are being bought in the high-$300,000s to the high $700,000s range.
With interest rate pushing 7 percent — high for the past 14 years but near average for the 20-year period prior to 2008, home sales are slowing down.
But sales have not hit a brick wall as they did in 2006 through 2008 when liar loans caught up with buyers.
A check of the housing market in Manteca, Tracy, Mountain House, and Lathrop confirms the buying slowdown for both new and existing homes.
The biggest change is in the $1 million plus market. There is just one existing tract home in the seven figure range with a pending offer between the four communities.
It is in Tracy with a $1,043,611 pending offer for a four bedroom, three bathroom home.
It’s a far cry from five months ago when there were 10 pending sales of existing homes in excess of $1 million in the three cities.
As of Thursday, there were 21 existing homes above the $1 million mark listed in Tracy. None had offers.
In Mountain House the number was seven including one where the seller is asking $1,449,000 for a four bedroom, 3.5 bedroom home.
Mountain House also has the only $1 million plus tract home foreclose listing in the area. It is for a home built in 2005 on Sanrise Street with five bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms in 3,634 square feet where the asking price is $1,249,990.
Lathrop has three existing homes with asking prices between between $1 million and $1.2 million that are still waiting for offers.
There is one tract home in Manteca seeking seven figures. It is a four bedroom, 3.5 bathrooms home with 3,130 square feet on Castellina Way that backs up to a manmade lake. The asking price is $1,198,999
Drop down to the $900,000 to $1 million range in Manteca and there are two homes with accepted offers and seven others listed.
One is an existing home on Benzinger Road in the neighborhoods southeast of Woodward Avenue and South Main Street. The 5 bedroom, 3.5 bathroom home with 3,715 square feet on a quarter acre last sold in July of 2020 for $671,072. It has a pending offer of $995,000.
The other home with an accepted offer is technically an existing home but has never been occupied by a family. It’s a Richmond American model home on the 2100 block of Day Lily Way that has a pending offer of $909,500.
Among the seven homes in the $900,000 to $1 million range is a bit of a novelty.
It is a custom home with four bedrooms and 4.5 bathrooms and 2,797 square feet on a large parcel in the 10 block of Mylnar Avenue just off East Yosemite Avenue.
The list price is $995,000. Besides custom construction it boasts one other thing in a bid to lures buyers — there are no Mello-Roos taxes that can add hundreds of dollars to the monthly mortgage payment given it is an infill project.
At River islands, new homes are still selling at the pace of two a week, down from 6 to 8 weeks a few months ago.
River Islands President Susan Dell’Osso said builders are experiencing cancelled contracts. The main reason behind the cancellations are those who have made offers to purchase the buyers’ existing homes have cancelled their contracts.
Still there is a demand for new homes in River Islands based on selling prices in excess of $1 million. Two of those are in the Kipper neighborhood — one has 5 bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms with 3,551 square feet on a large lot with an accepted deal of $1,100,500. The other features 4 bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms with 2,989 square feet for a home that is on the water.
To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com
