Despite the pandemic, the Berkeley real estate market has remained incredibly resilient — October single family home sales were their highest since 2003.

 

At long last, 2020 is almost behind us. It’s a perfect time to take a look at the Berkeley real estate market and determine what we should expect in 2021.

 

Before we delve into the future, let’s see what we can learn from the past. Typically, the real estate market has a reliable cadence over the course of a year which peaks during the spring and fall markets. Needless to say, COVID-19 threw 2020’s expectations out the window. Right when we were planning for the market to spike, shelter in place brought activity to a halt with the number of active listings falling dramatically in just two weeks, down 44% by the end of March.

 

 

But the Berkeley real estate market remained incredibly resilient. While the unemployment rate rose dramatically, grocery stores were laid bare and the economy seemed uncertain, Berkeley began to rebound. The number of listings and sales increased steadily, with lines pointing “up and to the right.” As a result, October single family home sales were their highest since 2003 and median price reached $1,540,000, the highest on record.

 

Looking forward, we expect the winter to be quite active. Many buyers put their searches on hold during the election, and over the past two weeks that pent up activity has roared back to life. And there is inventory available. As of Nov 23, Berkeley has 56% more listings than last year and the number of homes that are under contract is 18% higher than last year. This means we should expect to see a sizable wave of sales closing in November and December.