The Local Lowdown: February 2025

Michelle Kim | February 28, 2025

The Local Lowdown

Quick Take:

Pricing is remaining very strong in the East Bay, with single-family home median sale prices in January creeping up by 2.27% and 1.95% in ALameda and Contra Costa counties, respectively.
Despite relative strength in terms of median sale pricing, inventory levels continue to rise in both the single-family home market as well as the condo market.
We’re currently seeing a divergence in the number of days that homes are sitting on the market in Alameda and Contra Costa counties that might surprise you!

Note: You can find the charts/graphs for the Local Lowdown at the end of this section.

Median sale prices remain strong throughout the East Bay

Given the explosive growth in median sales prices that we saw during the beginning of 2024, one might expect that the market would give up some of these gains throughout the holiday months. However, the East Bay remains incredibly strong, with Alameda and Contra Costa Counties experiencing 2.27% and 1.95% year-over-year increases in single-family home median sales prices in January.

Likewise, condo pricing in Contra Costa County remained relatively strong with a 0.95% year-over-year increase. However, condos in Alameda County saw a 15.38% year-over-year decrease. It’s interesting to note that as interest rates began to rise after the Fall rate cuts, the East Bay at large remained relatively strong in terms of median sale price.

Inventories in the East Bay are starting to build

Inventories are one of the most important leading indicators of price trends, and we’re seeing quite the increase in inventories in the East Bay in terms of both single family homes and condos.

In January, there was a 21.59% increase in the number of new SFH listings, and a 26.39% in active SFHs. While it’s worth noting that the SFH market had very low inventories around this time last year, the condo market did not, so it’s interesting to see that that there was a 26.42% increase in the number of new condo listings, and a 38.24% increase in the number of active condo listings.

We’ll have to follow the trend, but this could mean that there will be some great buying opportunities for condos in the near future.

An interesting divergence in the number of days on market

Although there is typically a slight divergence in the number of days on market between Alameda and Contra Costa Counties this time a year, the difference is seemingly more pronounced this year. Single family homes are sitting on the market for roughly 26% more days in Contra Costa County than Alameda County. On the flip side, condos in Alameda County are sitting on the market for 65% longer than condos in Contra Costa County!

The East Bay continues to be a sellers’ market

When determining whether a market is a buyers’ market or a sellers’ market, we look to the Months of Supply Inventory (MSI) metric. The state of California has historically averaged around three months of MSI, so any area with at or around three months of MSI is considered a balanced market. Any market that has lower than three months of MSI is considered a sellers’ market, whereas markets with more than three months of MSI are considered buyers’ markets.

Although the condo market teeters on the edge of being balanced, with 2.9 months of supply in Alameda County and 2.8 months worth of supply in Contra Costa County, there’s a much different story when it comes to single family homes. The SFH market remains a very strong sellers’ market in both Alameda and Contra Costa Counties, with there being 1.3 and 1.5 months worth of supply on the market, respectively.