How’s the Cupertino real estate market right now? Let’s start with the most basic window into conditions: supply and demand. (This graph and more info comes from my Cupertino Real Estate Report. Please click on the link for much more data and information – with statistics and trends dating back many years. Also you will find reports which are monthly, quarterly and annually generated. Finally, there’s a “property analysis” tab which enables you to check sales – and see images – around any Cupertino address. Please allow the analysis tab to do its slow load – it’s worth it – enjoy!)

Cupertino Real Estate Supply and Demand

Cupertino Real Estate Market Barometer of Supply and Demand

The realty market barometer is going through the roof!  This implies that it’s very easy for Cupertino home sellers to get their properties into contract and to the closing table, that it is a hot seller’s market in Cupertino.  Please note the darkest line reflects housing inventory – and it’s been plummeting for months.  (Look at each year for October through December and you will note that the pattern is seasonal – but the actual number of homes available does vary considerably.)  Now please note the pale gray line, which indicates the number of homes selling and closing escrow.  The bigger the gap between these lines, the more choices buyers have, and the narrower the gap, the fewer.  Right now, for the first time covered by the chart above, these lines have met, meaning that homes are selling at the same rate that they are coming on the market.  When supply matches or outpaces demand, prices nearly always rise.

But what about home prices in Cupertino?

Here’s a look at the numbers, in brief, as reported with closed sales in December 2011.  Surprisingly, although the market appears to be very hot, prices don’t seem to reflect that – perhaps “yet”.  The median sales price of houses in Cupertino are off significantly from both the month prior and the year prior, and the average sales price is down a little. The number of sales is off a little and the list price to sales price is off some too (both year over year and month over month). Meanwhile, the days on market are growing pretty steadily.

What’s happening? Why this contradiction between the market barometer and pricing?   First, the days on market reflect the inventory which recently sold, not the inventory which is available today.  This tells us that many homes that have been on the market awhile are now being purchased. (Probably others went off the market for the holidays, which is typical for the season.) (more…)

How’s the Saratoga California real estate market?

Annual Saratoga CA Real Estate Update:

Saratoga’s prices slipped a bit in 2011 over 2010.  Here are the basic numbers with the stats for the annual review, including median sales price and average sales price of houses sold (see the Saratoga Real Estate Report for even more data):

Median Sale Price 2011 = $1,480,000   2010 = $1,510,000 (-2.0%)

Average Sale Price 2011 = $1,636,300   2010 = $1,657,140 (-1.3%)

For condominiums and townhouses it was stronger (finally, they’ve taken a beating!):

Median Sale Price 2011 =  $660,000     2010 =  $612,500 (+7.8%)

Average Sale Price  2011 = $684,500    2010 =  $640,895 (+6.8%)

To see much more information please visit the full annual Real Estate Report for Saratoga condos and townhomes

Monthly Real Estate Update for Saratoga:

Sales of single family homes were up but prices were down month over month – but way, way up over December 2010! It’s taking much longer to sell houses compared to a year ago too – but look at the prices from a year ago – the low price went with a very brisk sale time (average 17 days on the market).  That was nuts both for low pricing and for speed!

What about Saratoga condos for sale and sold? There are very, very few of these which sell in any given month, so the numbers can very easily jump around like crazy – and therefore aren’t terribly helpful.  (more…)

Every couple of weeks I update this post to bring fresh news and data on the Cambrian Park real estate market. On Dec 9th  I went onto the MLS and ran the “months of inventory” or absorption rate of houses and duet homes (what our MLS calls “class 1″)  in “area 14″ or Cambrian area of San Jose. This time I broke it down into price points as well as the type of sale (regular, short sale, bank owned)  so you can pinpoint the pricing for the various segments of the Cambrian market. (Reminder: months of inventory reflects how long it will take to sell a property if sales continue at the current rate. Six months or so is considered “balanced”. More is a buyer’s market and less is a seller’s.)

**please note – typo below – numbers were crunched December 9th, 2011, not December 10th.

Cambrian Park (San Jose) Months of Inventory by sale type & price point Dec 9, 2011

What’s selling? “Regular sales” – non distressed. Not faring so well? Short sales.  In many price points, although many are under contract or pending, FEW – sometimes none – are making it to the closing table.  We are hearing a lot about the streamlined processes for short sales, but these numbers hint at a different reality, namely that Silicon Valley and Cambrian short sales sell but often don’t close escrow.

What is the typical kind of home and price for these neighborhoods?  Of the homes which transferred ownership in the last 30 days, a typical house cost about $600,000, has about 1600 square feet and sits on a lot of around 6700 square feet (and is “partially updated”, not fully remodeled).  The price per square foot averaged $376 but ran from $205 (distressed and on a hugely busy road) to $513 (close to the hills near Almaden and Los Gatos).  If the home you want to buy or sell needs remodeling or is “all original” it’s probably going to sell for less. If it’s in a great area, is a regular sale and absolutely turnkey and fully remodeled, it’ll sell for more.  A beautifully remodeled Cambrian house with 3 bed, 2 bath and 1200 square feet can easily run $600,000 or more if it’s a regular sale and in a good area with no “issues” (high voltage lines, backing to busy road or school etc.).

What about the pending sales? (more…)

How’s the real estate market in the Willow Glen area of San Jose?  Like the greater Silicon Valley region, Willow Glen is comprised of many smaller micro-markets.  It will be different in north Willow Glen, Palm Haven or in a walk-to-town area than it will be in the Dry Creek area or St. Francis Woods neighborhood – let alone differences for school districts, price point, sale type (regular versus short sale or bank owned), zip code and home type!  It’s a patchwork of all these smaller markets, in other words.  What’s happening in one segment might be very different than in another.

Today’s post will be the broad view of Willow Glen and comments may not apply to your specific property – for info on your neighborhood, call or email me!

Disclaimers aside, overall it is a seller’s market in Willow Glen right now, but prices are slipping a little and not everything is selling (and certainly not getting the prices that many sellers want).  Some of this is seasonal – prices often fall a little in summer, so it may not be anything to be alarmed about.

Below are the basic numbers, stats and trends from the closed sales of houses in June and July:

and July

And next, of Willow Glen condos, where it’s been a cold buyer’s marke but recently heated up:

And June numbers for Willow Glen condos -

What about home prices in Willow Glen?

Below please find the Altos Charts (to which I have a subscription). NB Altos uses LIST prices, not solds (also they go by zips or cities, so don’t cover Willow Glen per se with it’s partial entry into the 95124 zip).

1 – Houses in the 95125 zip code – history, all prices combined.

2 – Houses in the San Jose, 95125 zip code, by price quartile over last 180 days

3 – Condominiums and townhouses in Willow Glen, San Jose 95125 – all quartiles combined over the last few years for median list price: (more…)

Multiple offers have returned to many segments of the Silicon Valley real estate market.  We are hearing about them in Palo Alto, Cupertino, Mountain View – areas where newly minted IPO money is having an impact – but also in more modest, middle class areas such as San Jose’s Cambrian neighborhood. The trend appears to be spreading.

What Silicon Valley home sellers need to know and do to attract multiple offers

If you’re a Silicon Valley home seller, what do you need to know to try to get multiples on your home?  What should you beware of?  In short, here’s what needs to happen if you want to attract multiple offers on your home for sale:

1. The home must be turnkey, either fully remodeled or close to it – it must look like there’s nothing or very little for a buyer to do.  In addition to being turnkey, it must be squeaky clean and well staged! It needs to be comfortable – not too hot, not too cold. You want buyers and their agent to linger longer.
   
2. The price must be at or even under market value.  That is, you must be willing to price it aggressively.  Think it’s worth $1,050,000?  You might list it at $999,999 to get in under a major price threshold and to be the very best, most attractive property for the money. Yes, it might be under priced.  Over priced listings get either one offer at best or, more likely, none at all.
3. The property must be highly accessible. If it is hard to see, you probably won’t get multiple offers (and may get none at all).  (Please see articles on accessibility and on open houses.)
4. Finally, the property must be well marketed.  This includes a wide range of factors ranging from photographs, text, fliers, signs, and even the commission rate offered to the buyer’s side.

What Silicon Valley home buyers need to know and do to compete with multiple offers

If you’re a Silicon Valley home buyer, how do you win out in multiples without giving away all of your rights or overpaying for your house/home? (more…)

Often on this blog we look at specific, hyper local real estate markets in Santa Clara County (as with Saratoga, Campbell, Los Gatos, or even a larger city such as San Jose – or parts of it such as Almaden or Cambrian – or even subsets of any of those). Today, though, we’ll check in on Santa Clara County as a whole, which is home to 1.8 million people and many diverse markets.

The number of homes being sold in Silicon Valley is trending upward now. Prices, though, while higher than a month ago are down about 5.4% from a year before. Let’s see it visually:

Pricing of houses sold in Santa Clara County

Both median and average sales prices are shown in the graph below (which is from the printable version of my Santa Clara County Real Estate Report; you can also view an online version at popehandy.rereport.com). Note the trends with several “peaks and valleys” over the last five years or so.

To check on particular areas within the county, please visit my RE Report and select the city, town, or area within San Jose that you want to better understand.

Homes in Saratoga, CA: real estate market trends and statistics for houses as well as condominiums and townhouses.

The real estate market in Saratoga improved a bit last month. But, as always, it really depends on what subset of the market you’re considering. It will be much different between price points, for instance (as well as between school districts, proximity to town, views, acreage, etc.). Today we’ll review the broad trends in Saratoga 95070 to get a general feel for the conditions but this could be very different for the home you own or want to purchase because real estate is always very local.

Let’s start with the months of inventory, or the absorption rate. I ran the numbers from MLSListings.com, our mls provider, this afternoon. The numbers below reflect all houses (or duet homes) in Saratoga, CA 95070. With months of inventory, the lower the figure the “hotter” the market or the more in the seller’s favor it is. Six months is said to be balanced. For Saratoga as a whole, there are 4.17 months of inventory or MOI right now. That’s not bad. It’s a seller’s market but not strongly so. But what if we look at subsets of the market? Let’s try it by price point.

We could drill this data down by any number of factors to see what the hyper local’s market climate would be like. The mix could include sale type (distressed properties, short sales, bank owned homes vs “regular sales”), various school districts, a “walk to town” location, horse properties, homes with views, newer construction, historic homes. etc.

Schools are always a big deal in terms of market drivers. Saratoga has 3 high school districts and 4 elementary school districts, and understanding those boundaries can make buyers a little crazy. Anyway let’s tease this out just a tad by looking at the MOI for Saratoga by high school district to see what we get.

• Homes feeding to the Los Gatos – Saratoga Joint Union High School District (Saratoga High) have 4.71 months of inventory (a bit cool but still in the seller’s favor)
• Houses which belong to the Campbell Union High School District (Prospect High School) have 3.71 months of inventory
• Properties in the attendance area of the Fremont Union High School District (Cupertino school, Lynbrook High School in Saratoga) enjoy 2.5 months of inventory (a pretty good, strong seller’s market) (more…)