Oakland Housing Market Forecast 2022: A Competitive Year for Buyers?

Recent forecasts for the Oakland, California real estate market in 2022 point to another year of stiff competition among home buyers.

The Oakland housing market is still experiencing a shortage of homes for sale, relative to the demand from buyers. This and other factors will probably keep house values rising for the foreseeable future.

Oakland Housing Market Forecast 2022

A recent report from the California Association of Realtors (C.A.R.) revealed some interesting trends for the Oakland real estate market in 2022. Among other things, this report showed that home prices are still climbing all across Alameda County.

It also showed that housing market supply remains woefully low, compared to the number of buyers in the market. This will keep the local real estate scene competitive over the coming months.

According to the February 16th C.A.R. report, the median sale price for existing single-family homes in Alameda County rose nearly 18% over the last year or so. The median price rose by 4.2% from December to January alone.

The median sale price for the county climbed to $1,250,000 last month. That’s the highest it has ever been.

Within the city of Oakland, the median home value is a bit lower than the countywide average. According to Zillow, the median price for the Oakland real estate market was around $961,000 as of February 2022.

A recent Zillow forecast predicted the median home value for the San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward metro area would rise by 17% over the next 12 months. (That prediction was issued in February 2022.)

Sales Have Declined, But Don’t Be Fooled

Interestingly, home sales in Alameda County actually declined over the past year. According to the C.A.R. report, home sales decreased by -29.7% from January of last year to January 2022. Sales were also down when measured month-to-month.

But these numbers can be misleading. You might look at this decline in sales and think that the housing market is cooling. That’s not necessarily the case. As we will talk about in a moment, houses are still selling fairly quickly within the Oakland real estate market.

The decline in sales probably has more to do with the ongoing inventory shortage. After all, you can’t buy a home if you can’t find one that meets your needs.

It’s Still a Competitive Real Estate Scene

As mentioned earlier, homes are still selling at a rapid pace within the Oakland-area real estate market.

The C.A.R. report cited earlier showed that homes listed for sale within Alameda County spent a median of just 10 days on the market. That’s a much lower number than the national average, and it points to an active real estate market with steady demand.

Inventory has a lot to do with this. As of last month, Oakland and the rest of Alameda County had a 1.5-month supply of homes for sale. That’s a long way below what is considered to be a balanced real estate market. And this partly explains why houses are selling so quickly in this real estate market.

Buyers have been competing fiercely with one another for limited inventory, a situation that has been going on for many months now. Tight supply conditions also explain why Oakland real estate market forecasts for 2022 predict an ongoing rise in prices.

Related: Bay Area affordability update

Planning to Buy a Home in Oakland In 2022?

Those who are planning to buy a home in the Oakland area during 2022 should be prepared to hit the ground running. While the real estate market could cool a bit over the coming months, the situation in Oakland will likely remain competitive due to tight inventory conditions.

Our advice for home buyers is to spend some time researching the market, before jumping into it. Specifically, you’ll want to know what the market is like in the area where you plan to buy. Take a look at recent sales prices and other market indicators. You can find most of this information online for free.

It’s also wise to have your financing arranged before you enter the real estate scene. This past year was a big one for the Oakland housing market, in terms of home sales and price growth.

Those trends are expected to continue (to some degree) over the coming months. So it makes sense to have your financing lined up ahead of time. This will allow you to move swiftly when the right property comes along.

Disclaimer: This report contains predictions issued by third parties not associated with our company. Housing forecasts are the equivalent of an informed opinion and therefore far from certain.