Million-dollar listings gain traction
Bakersfield’s home market suddenly looks like a million bucks.
Last month, for probably the first time ever, a dozen single-family homes in town went for more than $1 million. A report Tuesday said close to a third of them sold for all cash.
Fluke? Maybe not: Eighteen other homes in Bakersfield are listed for sale above the same price threshold. Fourteen are in escrow, according to Tuesday’s update by local appraiser and longtime market observer Gary Crabtree.
People in the business say a variety of factors are at play, tops among them the trend of people in higher-priced markets like Southern California selling high then buying at Bakersfield’s relatively low prices — and often ending up with a bigger, nicer home.
As for why they’re not deterred by recently elevated mortgage rates, local real estate agents say wealthier buyers tend to be unconcerned with interest in the 6.75% range, more so if they can afford a big downpayment.
Already the surge in million-dollar sales is having a noticeable impact on the market. Crabtree reported the median sale price for an existing home in the city jumped 4.4% in February to reach $395,000.
For new construction, which reportedly accounted for about half of the million-dollar-plus sales, the median jumped 3% month over month to land at $469,300.
Crabtree’s research indicates million-dollar homes have historically made up less than 1% of Bakersfield’s market. But last month, he said, it was more than triple that share, at 3.6%.
On one hand, seven figures is an arbitrary number to measure a market by. But Crabtree’s not the only one surprised at how many homes priced at that figure are suddenly moving.
“It’s a very interesting phenomenon,” said longtime local real estate agent Robin Ablin. He suggested it may have to do with out-of-town buyers — he’s seen a lot of them lately — who shop locally because the state price median is more than twice that of Bakersfield.
But often enough the buyers are local, as was the case with a five-bedroom, three-bath house on Marseilles Court in northwest Bakersfield that sold earlier this month for $1.6 million after sitting on the market for four months.
Buyer’s agent Mike Saba said the buyers were a local couple looking for a spacious home with a big lot. It was a lateral move for them, he said — not really an upgrade
or a downsizing. Meanwhile, the sellers were a couple from Southern California who decided after working remotely for a few years that it was time to move back closer to their business operation, he said.
Real estate agent William Gordon described other scenarios, like people who invested in the stock market, or workers who were paid in company shares, who see how high securities have risen and decided it was time to move their money into property.
“(It’s) people saying, look, the yield on my money isn’t much greater than the cost of a mortgage, so why not put money toward my primary home purchase and not (receive) essentially the same yield in money markets for relatively risk-free assets?” Gordon said.
Other times it’s entrepreneurs, he said, or medical doctors, accountants or attorneys priced out of other markets and finding a better quality of life in Bakersfield.
This week, a couple Gordon is representing listed a 4-bedroom, 3 1/2-bath home on Cricket Park Court in Seven Oaks for $1.1 million. He said the owners are looking to downsize after paying $775,000 for the house in 2016. Already he’s optimistic, having done three back-to-back showings on Wednesday.
Realtor Adam Belter is feeling good about local market conditions, too. He represented the children of a now-deceased couple who had a five-bedroom, three-bath home on Wildwood Way in Old Stockdale that sold last month for $1.25 million.
It’s not that surprising, he said: Bakersfield is growing, valuations are up everywhere and inflation is pushing prices higher and higher. People from out of town who see they can buy much larger homes for their money “are not blinking.”
He thinks million-dollar homes will become more common in time.
“I’m bullish on Bakersfield,” he said. “You’ll continue to see values above seven figures more frequently than we ever have.”