Luxury home sales remain sluggish in the west valley areas of Santa Clara County. Right now in Almaden Valley, Los Gatos, Monte Sereno and Saratoga, there are over 125 homes for sale listed at more than two million dollars, but in the last month only 6 have sold and closed escrow in those same areas and price ranges.

Today we’ll look at these four Silicon Valley communities and their luxury homes market to see what’s selling and where.

Almaden Valley (San Jose, 95120)

Currently in Almaden there are 11 homes for sale which are listed at or over $2,000,000.  In the last month, zero (0) sold.  That makes for an infinite number of “months of inventory”. It is an extraordinarily deep buyer’s market: great for buyers, a nightmare for sellers of high end homes there.

Will it improve? Probably not soon as there are no houses pending sale in that price range either. There are 55 pending sales in Almaden, but none listed at more than 1.6 mil and the average list price of these pending sales is under 1 mil.

Los Gatos (Town of Los Gatos, 95030, 95032)

Right now there are 49 homes listed in the luxury price point of 2 million or more, and just 2 which have sold & closed in the last month, so there is a 24.5 month supply of inventory.  It’s a very deep buyer’s market in Los Gatos among the most expensive real estate offerings for sale.  What about pending sales?  There are 10 homes in this price range “under contract” – so it is faring a lot better in Los Gatos than in Almaden Valley.

Monte Sereno (City of Monte Sereno, 95030)

In Monte Sereno, a very high end but very small community of only about 4,000 residents, currently there are 23 properties for sale in this upper pricing tier.  None have sold in the last month, so like Almaden, it has an infinite supply of inventory. There’s a little  light at the end of the tunnel, though, as there are two pending sales, both of which fall between 3 and 4 million dollars.

Saratoga (City of Saratoga, 95070)

Saratoga enjoys a good number of estate properties and very high-end real estate.  As of today, there are 43 such homes on the market and 6 sold and closed escrow in the last month.  In Saratoga, the months of inventory is 7.16.  This is a buyer’s market, but the closest to a balanced market of the four areas we’re studying today.  Additionally, there are 12 pending sales in this upper price range.

The average list price of the luxury homes under contract in Saratoga is $3,347,917; the average home size is 4252 & average lot size is 66,902 (about an acre and a half).  The most expensive home which is sale pending is a fabulous home on Fruitvale which was listed at $5,799,000.

Please note: In all of these areas, “the market” will be influenced further by each property’s school district and whether or not it’s a short sale, bank owned property, or regular sale – among other factors.

How can this information help you if you’re are a buyer or seller?

If you are a home owner thinking of selling an estate property, it is a tremendous help to know whether or not there is much demand for the type of home you wish to sell.  If nothing is “moving”, either the whole lot of listings is overpriced (which can happen) or buyers are voting with their feet and choosing another community in which to buy. Sometimes this happens because of schools, other times simply because the lower price ranges make a home purchase in a more exclusive area possible now when it wasn’t as possible before. In any case, if you need to sell in an area where little or nothing is selling, you will have to price your home so attractively that it’s probably painful.

On the other hand, if homes are selling, as is the case in Saratoga, pricing will still be important but you may not have to do the deep pricing cuts that might be required in Almaden right now, for instance.

If you are a home buyer interested in purchasing luxury real estate, you will also benefit from knowing how much competition there is for the type of home you wish to buy.  Right now, you may have an easier time negotiating in Almaden or Monte Sereno rather than in Los Gatos or Saratoga.  Of course it depends entirely on the house you like and whether or not it’s priced right.

Interested in understanding the market a little more? Please contact me for a confidential, no-obligation meeting.

Tags: Almaden Valley (SJ), homes, Los Gatos, Luxury, market, Monte Sereno, Real estate, Saratoga

This entry was posted on Monday, June 14th, 2010 at 6:03 pm and is filed under Almaden Valley (SJ), Los Gatos, Luxury Homes, Market Reports, Monte Sereno, Saratoga. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.