What’s the Silicon Valley real estate market doing? Silicon Valley is composed of many micro markets, and they may all behave independently of one another, but we are seeing some general trends.We’ll have a look at them today.  Things have really, really changed from six months ago. It’s very dramatic.

First, a city by city comparison of the numbers for the county and Campbell, Cupertino, Los Gatos, Saratoga, San Jose (as a whole), Sunnyvale, etc. This first chart is for houses in the cities and towns of Santa Clara County. On the first line, which is for the entire county, please notice the sales price to list price ration – it is over 100%.  This is perhaps the best indicator of the market heat we see here.  Also note how low inventory is for the county – from a year ago, it’s off 29.2% (and that year was low also).

Santa Clara County residential real estate statistics by city for single family homes March 2012

Perhaps not surprisingly, the sales price to list price ratio is highest in Palo Alto, where it was nearly 109%. Mountain View came in at 103%, Cupertino and Los Altos at 102%, Los Gatos, San Jose and Sunnyvale at a little over 100%.  Some areas, such as Monte Sereno, have so few sales that their numbers fluctuate wildly (in the case of Monte Sereno, best to look to similar areas of Los Gatos for the best sense of pricing, usually, as they share schools, parks, police etc.).

Next, the same type of data but for condominiums and townhouses rather than houses & duet homes:

Santa Clara County residential real estate statistics by city for condos & townhomes March 2012

The condo market has been taking a beating for years, but at long last, the sales price to list price ratio is now very close to 100% (99.9% for the county) and many areas are more than 100%: Campbell, Cupertino, Los Altos, Milpitas, Mountain View, and Palo Alto. Most of the rest of the county is at 99% with just a couple of exceptions.  What’s happening? The inventory here tells the story: county wide, it’s down 74% from last year.  In Campbell and Los Altos it’s off 75%.

Inventory is at record lows, buyer demand is way up: we have a strong sellers’ market with multiple offers and overbids

First, there’s extremely low inventory. In February there were just 1389 single family homes for sale in Santa Clara County.  A balanced market is somewhere around 3000 homes – so this is quite severe!  In fact, it’s the lowest amount of inventory for any February going back 10 years.  Here’s what it has looked like in other Februarys, per my Santa Clara County Real Estate Report (you can see these numbers yourselves): (more…)

The condominium & townhouse market is improving dramatically now.  It is evident both in looking at the stats countywide and in my recent experiences holding open my townhouse listings in Saratoga and Sunnyvale as well as recently participating in the sale of a townhome in Almaden Valley (representing a buyer) – all different areas and price points but all very active.

Here are the numbers for May sales of condos and townhomes for all of Santa Clara  County:

As you can see, the days on market are shrinking and prices (both median and average) are rising.  A few numbers cut back slightly in May: the sale to list price ratio retreated a little to 99.9% and the pending properties went down a little too.  But the number of sales were up.

The “months of inventory” or absorption rate is a great way to know how much of a buyer’s or seller’s market it is in any given place. Six months is considered balanced, less is a seller’s market and more is a buyer’s market.  Here are the months of inventory for selected communities in the “west valley” area of Silicon Valley – they are all “seller’s markets”, but some are strong and some are approaching balanced:

Of course, this is still painting with a broad brush.  The absorption rate for any of these areas may not be accurate for the various price points or school districts that might be found there.  For instance, a large luxury townhouse in Los Gatos which is downtown might be a really different type of market than a small, entry level one bordering Campbell or Cambrian Park.

What everyone’s wondering is if this seller’s market for condominiums and townhouses will continue despite the end of the federal home buyer credit.  To utilize that credit, homes had to be in contract by April 30th.  Most of those should be closed now, or nearing that date at best.  So we’ll really know more as we move into summer. My sense, though, is that what’s driving this market is much more the affordable prices of homes and of loans. The credits are a bonus, but many in Silicon Valley make too much money to be able to use them.

For information on your particular part of the Silicon Valley condo or townhome market, please give me a call or email me!

It is a fairly strong seller’s market in the Cambrian Park area of San Jose.  Sales are up, inventory is down, and the list price to sales price ratio is at almost 102%.  Days on market are down for houses (which make up most of the market).  Some indicators are still negative but most are improving.

 Here are the numbers from my online Silicon Valley Real Estate Report for single family homes – houses & duet homes (click on the link for the whole report):

And for the condo and townhouse market in Cambrian Park, things are looking up quite dramatically, with prices even higher than a year ago:
(more…)

The post below was written in October 2009. To see the most current posts on Willow Glen and the real estate market there, please click on this link to see all related posts with the most current on top. At the bottom of this post, I’ll add links to some articles which are specifically related to the Willow Glen real estate market trends & statistics, too.

Willow Glen is an interesting, varied, historic, scenic and upscale part of Silicon Valley.  It is convenient to downtown San Jose but has its own distinct history; even though it’s been part of the city of San Jose for nearly 75 years, ask a Willow Glen resident where he or she lives and the answer will be “Willow Glen”, not San Jose.

I’ll use Altos Research for my source (a subscription I have & have the right to reproduce images etc here). Since 95% of Willow Glen is composed of 95125 zip code, that’s what we’ll use. The graphs below are dynamic so although I’m posting this in fall of 2009, the charts should be accurate in the future too. NB, Altos uses list prices.

List prices for San Jose, 95125 over the last 12 months by price quartile:

Average days on market for San Jose, 95125 over the last 12 months by price quartile:

(more…)

The Almaden Valley real estate market is complex – “how it is” very much depends on the price point, school district (there are several in Almaden) and neighborhood.  The broad overview and the micro-view of this San Jose area are both helpful to buyers and sellers. Today we’ll do a little of each. (Graphs courtesy of two subscriptions I have: one is the REReport and the other is Altos Research. Both used by permission.)

First let’s see how Almaden Valley homes for sale fared in recent months, in 2008 and in recent years. Then we’ll have a look at the current situation. Here are a couple of graphs that make clear the condo market in this part of Silicon Valley:

Inventory has been rising in recent months, and sales have been declining fairly steadily in recent years.  If you have friends who sell homes or home loans and work the Almaden or Silicon Valley market, you already know that things have been worsening for quite awhile.

Now let’s look at the single family home market; first is the the days of inventory over the last 18 months or so and then the number of sales in Almaden over the last few years.

The patterns among single family homes in Almaden are even more clear in terms of the numbers of sales: it’s a straight decline.  Time on the market has fluctuated a little but the overall movement has been for longer time to sell a home.

(more…)

 If you are contemplating selling one home and buying another in the same general area, it may be that you need more space – or it may be that you simply want a home that’s updated and you’re not sure you want to experience, first-hand, the joys of remodeling.

Not too long ago, I stumbled upon a website to help folks work through this question:  www.RemodelOrMove.com.

Have a look. I think it’s pretty unbiased information that can help with this angle of the “move up” question.