Back in 2012 you could snap up a 944-square-foot unit at Manteca’s original — and only — conversion of apartments into condos for as low as $37,200.

That is no longer the case.

Three of the units in the Cherry Lane Condos along Cherry Lane at Union Road near the Manteca Golf Course have gone pending with offers of $225,000, $249,000, and $259,000 respectively.
There is one other two bedroom, one bathroom unit on the market for $249,999.

If the highest priced condo that has significant upgrades throughout closes escrow for $259,000 it will represent an increase in value of just under 550 percent from 2012 sales levels where multiple units sold for right around $40,000.

The Cherry Lane Condos is a barometer of how heated the Manteca housing market has gotten. It originally was built as an apartment complex in 1975.

The Bulletin started tracking the complex sales shortly after they came on the market in September 2006 as the median resale price for a resale home in Manteca hit $410,000. It was just $3,000 away from the market's peak before liar loans triggered the housing collapse to send the country into recession.

The median resale value of homes closing escrow in Manteca in July was $550,000. That is the highest ever median closing value for Manteca housing.

The reason the Cherry Lane Condos were a significant moment in Manteca history did not have much to do with the fact they were the first condo conversion of an apartment complex in the city. It had more to do with people willing to pay $220,000 for heavily-aged 800-square-foot homes accessed from alleys. That was the same price the initial Cherry Lane condo sales started at in 2006.

That — and the fact almost nothing was available for under $300,000 — made the conversion of the apartments into condos at Union Road and Cherry Lane look appealing to those desperately trying to buy shelter.

It was a much different story two years later.

What was once the hottest residential property in Manteca was on the bottom of the heap in terms of the price at the close of escrow based on transactions recorded during 2008.

The condos that once sold for $233 per square foot went begging even as late as the second quarter of 2012 for as little as $39.50 per square foot.

Several units were being offered for sale in Mach 2012 ranging from $37,200 to $45,000. The lowest asking price represented an 83.14 percent decline in value in six years.

The Cherry Lane condo sellers were the most realistic after the housing bubble burst. In 2008, they quickly dropped to $60,000 — a drop twice as sharp as conventional housing — prompting a flurry of sales.

They hit bottom in January of 2010 when units that sold closed escrow for $44,900. At that point the condos had plunged 78.6 in value over four years compared with overall housing values in Manteca that had dropped 57 percent during the same time going from $413,000 to $178,000.

Today based on most recent sales the Cherry Lane condos are more than 10 percent above the peak value of $220,000 in 2006.

The variation in prices, since all units are the same size, is due to location and whether there have been significant upgrades. There are some units, as an example, backing up to the Union Pacific Railroad tracks.

The condos are still the affordable alternative for those trying to find affordable shelter in the current housing market where a two bedroom and one bathroom apartment at Laurel Glenn on Button Avenue in Manteca that went for $790 a month in 2005 and $1,188 a month in 2014 is now commanding $1,720 a month. The Laurel Glenn two bedrooms and one bathroom floor plan at 750 square feet is 290 square feet less than the Cherry Lane condos.

If you can secure a FHA loan at 3.5 percent down, it would cost you $20 more to own at Cherry Lane as opposed to renting at Laurel Glenn. The $1,740 monthly cost includes principal, interest, mortgage insurance, homeowners insurance, and property taxes.

The highest priced two bedrooms, one bathroom apartment in Manteca is at The Atherton near Bass Pro Shops on Atherton Drive that features 722 square feet. It rents for $2,105.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com