If you have not had the pleasure of driving on Millhopper Road

Market Activity

As of this writing, there are 33 homes for sale along this road.

They come with at least .33 acres to a whopping 4.03 acres and range in living area from 1,244 to 4,889 square feet. Their ages vary from 1976 to 2008.

The  asking prices have a huge range, starting at only $185,000 going up to $1,290,000. These homes have been on the market between 14 days to almost a year. The asking price per square foot runs from $61 to $286.

If you do happen to end up buying in this area, you wont be disappointed with the birds, trees, and wild life that surrounds the area.

Recent Sales

Six homes have recently been sold and are waiting to close. The land measure is between  .33 to 1.07 acre. The buildings are between 1411 to 4028 square foot, and they had been on the market from 52 to 406 days before they went under contract. Their asking  prices ranged from $236,000 to $645,000, with price per square foot being $94 to $137 . We wont know the sale price until they are closed. Most closings happen with 30 days of the contract date.

There were 8 sales in this area since June of this year. The lot sizes ranged from .4 to 1.73 acres. Their square foot (heated and cooled) ranted from 1953 to 3856. The years built were 1977 to 2004. They closed at $236,000 to $645,000, being on the market 52 to 406 days. And their price per square foot ranged from $94 to $406. Depending on the subdivision along this road, you can have more modest smaller homes and lots, to acres with large estates. You pick!

This section of Gainesville is in buyer-market mode. If you look at the below Market update you can see changes in the Active real estate market for zip code 32635.

There are 137 homes for sale in the area. Median asking prices have dropped from $188k in August to $166k now.  During that time it has taken longer to sell homes but inventory has also come down, so the market has maintained it’s buyer/seller balance for the last few months.

This section of northwest Gainesville includes neighborhoods like: Blues Creek, Turkey Creek, Turkey Creek Forest, Northwood, and subdivisions along Millhopper Road like San Felasco Estates, Deer Run, and Windsor Glen.

90-day stats for Single Family properties in GAINESVILLE, FL32653 as of October 7, 2011
Median List Price:	$162,931	Average List Price:	$293,728
Total Inventory:	127	Price per Square Foot:	$101
Average Home Size:	1,658	Median Lot Size:	14,375
Average # Beds:	3.23	Average # Baths:	2.38
Homes Absorbed:	6	Newly Listed:	4
Days on Market:	162	Average Age:	21

Market Action Index (MAI) helps show how balanced a market is.  A score of 30 is an even market – so this area is in a buyer’s market hovering on an MAI between 15 and 8.

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San Felasco sunset

There were 6 large luxury homes in this area that sold in the last 6 months.  That is an impressive concentration, and it shows that Millhopper Road is a hot area even in a cool market.  (There have been 50 sales in all of Alachua County during the same time frame).  There are 9 homes on the market as I am typing this. There is about 9 months of inventory at the current absorption rate.

It’s easy to understand why the area is so desirable if you have ever driven down Millhopper road or spent time at San Felasco Hammock Preserve State Park.

What’s the Bottom Line?

These homes averaged about 4,000 square feet and 10 years old.  The median sale price was $632,500 after only 115 days on the market ($155/sqft).

Gotta Have One?

Click Here to see all the Luxury Homes for sale in Northwest Gainesville.

Recent Sales

9 homes have sold so far in 2009. The original asking prices ranged from $415,000 to $899,900.  The median selling price was $650,000 for a 4 bedroom 3.5 bath home at 3,425 sqft, on the market for 280 days. They reduced their asking price by a median $120,000 to get a contract.  The median selling price per square foot is $152, and ranged from a low of $131 to a high of $210.

For Sale Now

Millhopper Road Homes for Sale

There are 18 homes for sale right now along Millhopper Road.

The asking prices range from $365,000 (Windsor Glen $130/sqft) to $1,675,000 (Thornehill $342/sqft).  The median size home is 4 bedrooms and 3.5 baths with 4,000 sqft, it has been on the market about 4 months and is asking $188/sqft.

Click the photo to the left for details on all the homes for sale along Millhopper Road.

Absorption Rate

In the last 12 months this area had about 1 sale per month.  At that rate there is an 18 month supply of inventory.

Waiting to Close

4 homes have a contract and are going through their contingency period.  Once escrow closes we will know the sale prices.

The owners are asking from $399,000 ($139 per square foot) to $660,000 ($180 per square foot).  The median asking price is $499,900 for a 4 bedroom 3.5 bath home at 3,609 sqft.  One home dropped their asking price by $183,000 in the 500 days it was on the market, but the others are at or near their original asking price and have been on the market 3 months or less.

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The Neighborhood’s Split personality

There are two distinct faces to homes in Millhopper Forest.  Homes in Millhopper Forest proper are larger, more extravagant, and more expensive. The homes in The Cottages are for those who don’t want to worry about maintenance – the homes tend to be smaller and on smaller lots while the headaches attached to home ownership are largely handled by the association, who is responsible for the exterior of the homes as well as the yard work.

Because of these significant differences I’ll analyze the two segments of the neighborhood separately.

Homes for Sale in Millhopper Forest

For sale now

There are 3 homes for sale showing up as available in the MLS, two are resale homes and one is Shannon’s model home.  To see details of the homes, photos, etc. Just clock on the photo here.

There is also 1 home under contract in Millhopper Forest (we won’t know the sales price until the sale closes).  The home was on the market for over a year.  Originally listed at $586,000 the owner was asking $479,000 when they agreed to their contract.  It is a large home – about 3,000 sqft.

Millhopper Forest

Most of the homes were built from 2000 – 2006, so re-sales have been fairly rare.  The first few years it looks like there were some homes flipped quickly, but after 2002 only 2-4 homes were sold each year – even during the market peaks.

It seems that with the exception of the Shannon model home, the homes that come onto the market in this neighborhood sell within 4-5 months of listing.  The average price has come down from it’s peak in 2006 at $605,000 to an adjusted* average for 2007/08 of $566,000 – not even a 10% price drop.  The interesting thing is that the homes that sold were smaller, so the average price per square foot has increased each year since the neighborhood was started – currently at $185/sqft.

Market stats for homes in Millhopper Forest

The Cottages at Millhopper Forest

The market peaked in 2006 with 8 home sales at an average price of $467,000.  It was surprising that there was only one sale in The cottages in 2007 and none in 2008.  The home which sold in 2007 went for $598,000 ($190/sqft).

There were 5 homes that were on the market and didn’t sell in 2007 – they averaged an asking price of $424,000 ($167/sqft).  This is an important statistic, because it shows what buyers weren’t willing to pay for homes in the area.

There has been one sale so far in 2009 – the home sold for $365,000 ($152/sqft).  This shows a shift of $10/sqft since the market peak.  It was on the market for well over a year before it sold, starting at an asking price of over $400,000.

Market stats for homes in the Cottages of Millhopper Forest

Summary

This neighborhood is beautiful, and most people aren’t in a hurry to leave.  If homes are priced at today’s market rates they don’t take long to sell, but if they are overpriced buyers will let them sit on the market for months waiting for prices to come down.

(*because there was only 1 sale in 2008 at $619,000 the years 2007 and 2008 were added together to generage an adjusted number)