Happy New Year!
New Year’s Eve kicked off this go ’round with Monterey’s annual First Night Celebration on Alvarado Street in downtown Monterey. Pebble Beach Company and Spanish Bay threw their own shindigs, but we opted for dinner at The Bench, the restaurant on the 18th green in the Pebble Beach Lodge. If you ever go there, and you fancy yourself a fan of martinis, I strongly support you in trying the Stoli Vodka martini, dirty, with bleu cheese stuffed olives….the best!  Anyway, we wrapped dinner and ended up in downtown Monterey, where the city has taken on a recent transformation for the better- many of the older restaurants have gone out, replaced with newer, more upscale destinations, such as the Alvarado Street Brewing Company, a very chic, larger establishment with giant, brass brewing facilities in the window that seems to tie the upper and lower portions of the downtown district together nicely. Several of our friends chose either 1833 or My Attic, both higher-end retro lounges to ring in the new year; we chose My Attic to end the night. A great time all around, and even greater to see the quality of Monterey’s attractions and crowds improving so much.
We wrapped 2014 real estate with healthy gains just over 5%, statewide. Volume was down about 3.4%, year over year, but that seems likely due to the shortage of inventory, and not because people weren’t trying to get into the market. Numbers fell slightly October and November, which is typical of this time of year, although I felt that serious buyers came out of the woodwork over the holiday more than ever, this year- a good sign for next year. Another exciting piece of the puzzle was that interest rates stayed low again this year, even falling for a moment below 4% again. As always, local numbers trumped statewide numbers, and we’ll have those for you next month.
While my brokerage, David Lyng, continues to be the leader in the greater Monterey Bay, with the greatest number of agents and volume, my team, Ryan Melcher Properties, finished up the 4th quarter strong, with a handful of closed transactions all in the high-end. This month we’re hoping to roll out the new website and marketing campaign targeting out-of-town buyers, which we’re very excited about. Nothing like it in town!
Another great year on the books.
Cheers,
Ryan
As always, please think of us if you or a friend needs representation. Please scroll down for market activity breakdown by area.
Carmel Real Estate
Carmel real estate inventory is currently at 121 available homes, with 17 completed single family residence transactions during the month of December.
Pebble Beach Real Estate
Pebble Beach Real Estate inventory is currently at 57 available homes, with 7 completed single family residence transactions during the month of December.
Carmel Valley Real Estate
Carmel Valley Real Estate inventory is currently at 35 available homes, with 7 completed single family residence transactions during the month of December.
Carmel Highlands Real Estate
Carmel Highlands Real Estate inventory is currently at 9 available homes, with 1 completed single family residence transaction during the month of December.
Disclaimer: The numbers and activity represented in this report were drawn directly from the MLS, the California Association Of Realtors, Freddie Mac and other sources, and are generally accepted as correct but are subject to change and/or mistakes.
