by Clair Handy, Mary Pope-Handy | May 16, 2022 | Events, Art and Entertainment, Los Gatos
Looking forward to those fabulous free summer concerts? So am I! This year we’ve combined the schedules of four different festivals, Los Gatos Music in the Park, The Promenade, Jazz on the Plazz, and Fiesta de Artes, in a post on my Live in Los Gatos blog. Remember to check the festival web sites for rules, schedule changes, and directions.
Follow this link to get to the schedule on the Live in Los Gatos Blog!
Free Summer Concerts in Los Gatos
Love Los Gatos? Check the Los Gatos Real Estate Market Trends and Statistics on this blog, updated monthly, to stay up to date with the latest data.
by Clair Handy, Mary Pope-Handy | May 12, 2022 | How's The Market?, Market Reports, Santa Teresa (SJ)
Silver Leaf Park in the Santa Teresa area of San Jose
How’s the Santa Teresa real estate market? The scenic Santa Teresa area of San Jose is popular as it’s a bit more affordable but offers lovely views of the hills and public schools that seem to be improving over time, making the area more desirable. These positives seem to be helping that area to hold its value well. Here are a few details from the latest monthly market update for Santa Teresa single family homes (read the full analysis below):
- The median and average sales prices are lower than the previous month but up 21.7% and 20.4% since April 2021 respectively.
- Available inventory jumped from 2 in February to 10 in March and 15 in April – serious growth, but still not enough to match demand!
- Days on the market held at 7 days for the second month in a row
- The average sale to list price ratio slipped a hair to 118.1% – the list price often is a bit of a price mirage right now
Santa Teresa (our MLS Area 2) includes a small bit of the 95123 zip code, which is more expensive, but most of that zip code is Blossom Valley, so we will omit it. The 95138 zip code is about half Santa Teresa and half Evergreen (more expensive area), so take those numbers with a big grain of salt. I find the 95119 zip code to be most helpful, but even then, the school district is divided between Oak Grove and Morgan Hill.
Weekly update from Altos Research with a “market profile” of San Jose’s Santa Teresa area, zip code 95119 for single family homes / houses:
When there’s not enough data, the fields will be blank.
With this week’s update the chart is holding strong in a seller’s market. But with just 4 active listings that’s not much to analyze! Small pools of data can make trend tracking less accurate. Sales are happening at breakneck speeds with an average of just 4 days on market! Altos shows a prolonged strong seller’s market in Santa Teresa 95119!
Weekly update from Altos Research with look at a glance of zip code 95138 for single family homes or houses:
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by Clair Handy, Mary Pope-Handy | May 12, 2022 | How's The Market?, Market Reports, Monte Sereno
How is the Monte Sereno real estate market? Because the city is small, with just about 4,000 residents, there usually are few homes listed for sale or selling, and with small numbers we can get seeming volatility. This article is updated monthly with new data and analysis, so scroll down to read the latest and check back regularly. Here are a few details from the latest market update:
- Monte Sereno is currently in a strong seller’s market with hardly any inventory – just 7 homes for sale at the end of April.
- April sales to list price ratio remains high at an average of 116.6% of asking.
- Prices are looking up about 20% – 30% from last year, but that’s based on an extremely limited pool of sales.
There are ALMOST no condominiums or townhomes in Monte Sereno (the MLS shows 6 closed sales in this category around Monte Sereno total – going back to 1998!). One of the major challenges for this city is to ensure that at least some housing units are deemed “affordable.” You can find the city’s housing plan here (an online pdf): http://www.montesereno.org/DocumentCenter/Home/View/674
Below is a quick market profile for Monte Sereno. This is updated automatically weekly, so please check back often.
Altos Research does weekly reports, to which I subscribe. You can see the full weekly report for Monte Sereno HERE and you can click the subscribe button there if you’d like to get it weekly (or navigate to another zip code or city and subscribe to that). Here’s the data on home descriptions per price quartile in the report, updated automatically throughout the month:
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by Mary Pope-Handy, Clair Handy | May 12, 2022 | How's The Market?, Los Gatos, Market Reports
The Los Gatos real estate market trends are leaning heavily in the sellers’ favor. Inventory has been rising and this may be changing, but as of April, prices continue to go up.
- The median sale price was $3,651,000 (+9.0% from the month before) and up 35% from last year.
- The average sale price was $3,606,330 (+0.4% from March) and up 20.7% from a year ago.
- The sale to list price ratio rose further to 118.2% (+1.5% from March). It was 106.5% a year ago.
- Days on market shrunk to 7, inventory grew, and the days of inventory are now 31. This indicates a little improvement for the buyers can be anticipated, but it is still a very hot seller’s market.
This post will include info from both Altos Research, which uses LIST prices, and the RE Report, which uses listing and closed sale data, for the “in town” areas (95030 and 95032).
Related: Why is inventory so low, and when will it get better?
From ALTOS – a view of LG 95030 (these are updated automatically a few times a month):
And 95032:
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by Clair Handy, Mary Pope-Handy | May 11, 2022 | How's The Market?, Market Reports, Santa Clara
The Santa Clara Women’s Club (old adobe house)
http://www.santaclarawomansclub.org/
The real estate market in the city of Santa Clara, like the rest of Silicon Valley, is one in which the sellers have a strong upper hand and it continues to be impacted by rising prices and heightened demand. Buyers are seemingly going crazy over this part of Silicon Valley right now!
- The April sale to list price ratio is a red hot 118.2% of asking.
- April had just 29 active listings at the end of the month, but 52 closed sales and 65 pending sales for single family houses!
- The average days of inventory (or market absorption) was just 16, and the days on market was 9, so extremely quick turnover
Prices in Santa Clara are astronomical. I grew up in that city and am amazed to see that the average and median sales price there are now hovering around $2 million!
The Real Estate Market for the City of Santa Clara
Below there are charts for the market activity over the last few months for single family homes in Santa Clara. Market activity has been high for months, and low inventory from the past two years with continuous low inventory around the rest of the Valley means there is still a greater demand to fill than properties available. Further down in the article, we’ll check in on the condo market, too.
First, a market profile, automatically updated weekly, for the city of Santa Clara (these reports are available by zip code, too, and for condos/townhomes as well as single family dwellings). Check out the weekly Altos report HERE and click on subscribe to get weekly updates on all of Santa Clara or any particular zip code. (Scroll to the bottom and check out the profile of houses across 4 pricing quartiles – super interesting.)
According to Altos, it’s a strong seller’s market right now with elevated market action rising through early spring, low median days on market, and a slight increase in perpetually low inventory.
Data from my Real Estate Report
Next, stats at a glance for the Santa Clara real estate market for single family homes. There’s a glitch with our usual system that generates the statistics and trends, so the numbers might not be exact but the trend tracking is still accurate.
Looking back, 2020 began with a hotter than usual winter market getting progressively hotter towards spring. Things started to change after March 2020 and the market was hit with some significant cooling at the start of shelter-in-place. As the country began to open up, easing restrictions for realty sales, all that pent up demand fired up the market!
High demand and low inventory have been fueling a blazing hot market in Santa Clara over the last couple of years. There was no winter cool down here. Normally we don’t include the market heat charts from the RE Report, but the December 2021 spike was so striking that I wanted to include it. It’s a quick view of why it’s so hard for buyers to buy here, and so easy for sellers to sell right now. That chart can be viewed larger by clicking on it, or visit my RE Report page for Santa Clara stats here.
Trends at a Glance
| Trends At a Glance |
Apr 2022 |
Previous Month |
Year-over-Year |
| Median Price |
$1,920,000 (-2.5%) |
$1,970,000 |
$1,640,000 (+17.1%) |
| Average Price |
$2,068,930 (+3.1%) |
$2,007,080 |
$1,608,630 (+28.6%) |
| No. of Sales |
52 (-1.9%) |
53 |
52 (0.0%) |
| Pending |
65 (-8.5%) |
71 |
66 (-1.5%) |
| Active |
29 (+20.8%) |
24 |
33 (-12.1%) |
| Sale vs. List Price |
118.2% (-4.9%) |
124.4% |
109.2% (+8.2%) |
| Days on Market |
9 (+4.8%) |
9 |
17 (-45.1%) |
| Days of Inventory |
16 (+19.1%) |
14 |
18 (-12.1%) |
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by Mary Pope-Handy, Clair Handy | May 11, 2022 | Condos & Townhomes, Houses, How's The Market?, Luxury Homes, Market Reports, Saratoga, Single Family Homes
Orchard and Hills in Saratoga, California
The Saratoga CA real estate market today is strongly in the seller’s favor with huge price increases from a year ago. There are a few hints of calming, but barely any, in Saratoga right now.
Some quick stats from the RE Report:
- The sales to list price ratio is 115.2% , which is down 2.3% from the month (very slight cooling) before and up 8.9% from the year before.
- Available inventory remains low at 23. Last month it was 18, and last year it was 33. Inventory does typically rise between March and April. Historically it is still quite low.
- The median sale price was $4,100,000 (+7.2% over last month’s $3,825,500) , which is a huge jump up from a year before ( April 2021 it was $3,100,000, a change of +32.3%)
- The average sale price was $4,217,770 (+7.4% over the prior month’s $3,926,940 ). In April 2021 it was $3,366,030 (+25.3% from then to now)
How’s the Saratoga real estate market?
Saratoga has a diverse real estate market due to a wide range of home prices, square footage, lot sizes, school districts, and more. The luxury tier, generally $4 million and up (but in Saratoga, that’s really still just a house in an expensive zip code) normally moves slower than other price points. Saratoga’s entry level housing is usually the strongest. If the numbers swing wildly at any given month, it could be that more or fewer homes in a particular school district and pricing tier.
First, a quick glance at the Altos Research market profile for a quick summary of the market conditions. Altos uses LIST prices, not sold prices, for this chart and the others, below.
Next, let’s turn to the closed sales from last month. This time we’re using data from a subscription service of mine to the RE Report.
Here are the real estate sales statistics for closed sales last month among houses and duet homes (if there are any) in the 95070 zip code. Bottom line is that most livable homes in Saratoga will run between $3 and $4 million if they are mid sized (2000-3000 SF) and in the best schools area (Saratoga or Cupertino). Homes in the Campbell schools area, which have very strong elementary and middle schools, are fewer and generally more affordable, closer to $2 – $3 million (and occasionally lower), but depending on size, condition, and location they can be significantly higher.
Trends at a Glance for the Saratoga CA Real Estate Market
Data below is from the ReReport.
Many homes, though not all, are selling at least $500,000 over list price. Some are selling more than $1 million over.
| Trends At a Glance |
Apr 2022 |
Previous Month |
Year-over-Year |
| Median Price |
$4,100,000 (+7.2%) |
$3,825,500 |
$3,100,000 (+32.3%) |
| Average Price |
$4,217,770 (+7.4%) |
$3,926,940 |
$3,366,030 (+25.3%) |
| No. of Sales |
31 (+40.9%) |
22 |
37 (-16.2%) |
| Pending |
46 (-14.8%) |
54 |
35 (+31.4%) |
| Active |
23 (+27.8%) |
18 |
33 (-30.3%) |
| Sale vs. List Price |
115.2% (-2.3%) |
117.9% |
105.7% (+8.9%) |
| Days on Market |
10 (-10.1%) |
11 |
18 (-46.8%) |
| Days of Inventory |
22 (-12.3%) |
25 |
26 (-16.8%) |
Altos Research – list prices for Saratoga CA 95070 (more…)
by Mary Pope-Handy, Clair Handy | May 10, 2022 | How's The Market?, Market Reports, Most Popular Articles, Sunnyvale
The Sunnyvale real estate market is appreciating at an incredibly fast rate. The month over month changes might be reflective of appreciation in a normal year.
Here are a few quick points from the single family home market below:
- The sale to list price ratio rose higher again, with homes selling on average at 121.8% (+0.2% from last month, +18.2% from a year ago)
- Days on market were at 9 in April, down from 14 in March and down from 10 a year ago.
- The average sale price was $2,607,490 (-7.2% from March 2022 and +17.6% from April 2021)
- The median sale price was $2,600,000 (-4.7% from last month and +17.6% from last year)
- Active listings shrunk again, and sat at 33 at the end of April (down from 35 in March and 40 from April 2021)
The bottom line is that there’s not enough inventory but it seems like every potential buyer wants to get a home ASAP, before interest rates rise any further and before stocks tank any further.
The Real Estate Report numbers for Sunnyvale (entire city), single family homes
PLEASE visit our ReReport page for data here, throughout Santa Clara County, and also for San Mateo and Santa Cruz Counties.
(If you’re viewing this on a mobile phone, swipe horizontally to see the full chart if it goes off the screen.)
Sunnyvale realty market statistics: down month over month, but up substantially year over year
| Trends At a Glance |
Apr 2022 |
Previous Month |
Year-over-Year |
| Median Price |
$2,600,000 (-4.7%) |
$2,729,000 |
$2,200,000 (+18.2%) |
| Average Price |
$2,607,490 (-7.2%) |
$2,808,450 |
$2,216,720 (+17.6%) |
| No. of Sales |
65 (+47.7%) |
44 |
63 (+3.2%) |
| Pending |
107 (-5.3%) |
113 |
73 (+46.6%) |
| Active |
33 (-5.7%) |
35 |
40 (-17.5%) |
| Sale vs. List Price |
121.8% (+0.2%) |
121.5% |
114.0% (+6.9%) |
| Days on Market |
9 (-35.0%) |
14 |
10 (-5.2%) |
| Days of Inventory |
15 (-38.3%) |
24 |
18 (-20.0%) |
You may also want to see how Sunnyvale stacks up to other communities in Santa Clara County. If so, click to see the PDF Real Estate Report for Santa Clara County, updated monthly.
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by Mary Pope-Handy, Clair Handy | May 10, 2022 | How's The Market?, Market Reports, Most Popular Articles, Mountain View
Mountain View’s real estate market has cooled just a little bit as compared to March, but remains far stronger than it was in April 2022. One month does not a trend make, so let’s see how it goes in May.
- Prices are down month-over-month 8-13% but up 17% – 21% year over year
- Properties are selling quickly with 11 days on the market, however, this is up from last month’s mere 8 days on the market.
- The sales to list price ratio cooled to 116.2% of asking, which is still very hot, but also hints to things calming down.
Many home sales here are powered by the stock market, and most stocks are faring poorly now. At some point, this will impact what buyers can or will do, and prices should level off or decline at that point.
The Mountain View Real Estate Market
How’s the Mountain View CA real estate market? This is one of the hottest areas within Silicon Valley and is home to a myriad of high tech companies and is a stone’s throw from others. With a charming and walk-able downtown, easy access to CalTrain, and a vibrant atmosphere conducive to both work and play, it is no wonder that people relocating to the San Francisco Bay Area or Silicon Valley place Mountain View squarely in their target. (Also popular are adjacent municipalities: Sunnyvale, Cupertino, Los Altos, and Palo Alto.)
Overview of the city of Mountain View’s residential real estate market for houses:
First let’s have a look at the Real Estate Report with sales data taken directly from the MLS. These numbers for April are softer than they were for March, but still up substantially as compared to April 2021.
Trends at a Glance
| Trends At a Glance |
Apr 2022 |
Previous Month |
Year-over-Year |
| Median Price |
$3,005,000 (-13.4%) |
$3,468,500 |
$2,480,000 (+21.2%) |
| Average Price |
$3,039,820 (-8.5%) |
$3,323,430 |
$2,588,920 (+17.4%) |
| No. of Sales |
24 (+9.1%) |
22 |
53 (-54.7%) |
| Pending |
50 (+4.2%) |
48 |
29 (+72.4%) |
| Active |
25 (+8.7%) |
23 |
22 (+13.6%) |
| Sale vs. List Price |
116.2% (-3.8%) |
120.8% |
108.9% (+6.7%) |
| Days on Market |
11 (+30.1%) |
8 |
16 (-30.3%) |
| Days of Inventory |
30 (-3.7%) |
31 |
12 (+150.9%) |
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by Clair Handy, Mary Pope-Handy | May 9, 2022 | Almaden Valley (SJ), Alum Rock, Alviso (SJ), Berryessa (SJ), Blossom Valley (SJ), Buena Vista, Cambrian Park (SJ), Central San Jose, Downtown San Jose, East San Jose (SJ), Evergreen (SJ), How's The Market?, Market Info, Market Reports, Most Popular Articles, Naglee Park, Neighborhoods in Almaden, Neighborhoods in Cambrian, Neighborhoods in Willow Glen, Rose Garden area, San Jose (all areas), West San Jose, Willow Glen (SJ)
The San Jose real estate market continues to be a deepening seller’s market with no signs of letting up.
First, some quick data from my RE Report via the bullets and chart below. There appears to be a small amount of undercounting or overcounting between the RE Report and MLS Listings, but the information is still good for tracking trends.
- The April 2022 sale price to list price ratio for San Jose single family homes shrunk slightly to 116.6% (-1.8% from last month), but a year ago it was 111.2% (+4.9% from then)
- Home prices are up roughly 24% – 25% from a year ago (more than the typical 20% down payment!)
- The median sale price is $1,750,000 (unchanged from March, but way up from a year ago, when it was $1,415,000 (+23.7%)
- The average sale price was $1,926,180 (+4.0% from last month, and +25.2% from April 2021)
- The days on market slowed a hair swung back to 9 from 10 (it was 12 in April 2021).
War, inflation, stock market, recession concerns – and real estate
Many of our home buyers are financially powered by tech stocks, stock options, and RSUs. When the stock market tanks, some buyers will rush to put their cash into real estate (the quip we often hear is that “real estate does not go to zero” and “at least you can live in it”. At the same time, if the most amply capable buyers don’t want to sell their holdings at a 10% or more discount, that will impact how much they are willing to pay.
For some, the rising interest rates combined with the lower stock values have been a double whammy on affordability.
We are seeing some slight signs of cooling in the market with fewer offers and some data points just a hint calmer than a month ago. Prices continue to rise, though, and so do interest rates. Nationwide, inventory is rising pretty noticeably. If that happens here, prices should level out or drop. But will they do it on par with interest rates rising? No one knows.
The data below in the “trends” chart is from our Real Estate Report for the City of San Jose.
San Jose Real Estate Market Trends at a Glance (RE Report)
| Trends At a Glance |
Apr 2022 |
Previous Month |
Year-over-Year |
| Median Price |
$1,750,000 (0.0%) |
$1,750,000 |
$1,415,000 (+23.7%) |
| Average Price |
$1,926,180 (+4.0%) |
$1,852,840 |
$1,538,330 (+25.2%) |
| No. of Sales |
499 (+22.3%) |
408 |
636 (-21.5%) |
| Pending |
672 (-1.2%) |
680 |
589 (+14.1%) |
| Active |
369 (+33.7%) |
276 |
314 (+17.5%) |
| Sale vs. List Price |
116.6% (-1.8%) |
118.7% |
111.2% (+4.9%) |
| Days on Market |
9 (-4.1%) |
10 |
12 (-24.6%) |
| Days of Inventory |
21 (+5.7%) |
20 |
14 (+49.8%) |
Year over year and related charts from MLS Listings
I pulled these directly from the MLS myself today.
The San Jose Real estate market’s sale price to list price ratio – notice the huge jump from last year, and then notice the ongoing streak of record breaking highs!
Notice that MOST YEARS, but not always, the sale price to list price ratio rises between March and April. It fell a little in 2020, but that did not turn into the correction we all anticipated with the start of COVID. Look into late 2020 and you’ll see that all we were actually experiencing was a slight breather – very slight.
Please keep reading below.
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by Mary Pope-Handy, Clair Handy | May 9, 2022 | Cambrian Park (SJ), How's The Market?, Market Reports, Most Popular Articles
The Cambrian real estate market has been white hot with home prices accelerating at an alarming rate. This extreme heating may be driven by fantastic schools and greater “bang for your buck” price tag. Cambrian Park is mostly San Jose with a tiny portion in Campbell, and is primarily covered by the 95124 zip code with a bit of 95118 and a sliver of 95008.
- In April there were 62 single family homes sold in Cambrian (area 14) recorded on the MLS. This is up tremendously from the month before, but far shy of the 75 from a year ago. The lower numbers are largely due to smaller inventory, not a lack of interest.
- The median and average sale prices were up 25-26% compared to a year ago.
- The sales-to-list price ratio averaged 116.4%, a little lower than last month but up from last year.
- Homes sold in an average of 9 days, showing slight hints of cooling, but this is still an amazingly fast pace. A year ago it was 10 days.
The Cambrian Park Real Estate Market
With good schools and easy proximity to Los Gatos, Campbell, Willow Glen, and commuter routes, Cambrian has that “enduring value” that home buyers seek. Sellers aren’t selling – they like the neighborhood and appreciate their lower taxes from staying in their homes for many years. The result is a continuous demand that outpaces supply, with prices soaring to unreal seeming places.
Here is a deeper dive on some of those stats. The RE Report is having some issues with reporting from the MLS, so this data may not be exact but we can still understand the current trends with this chart.
| Trends At a Glance |
Apr 2022 |
Previous Month |
Year-over-Year |
| Median Price |
$1,885,000 (-0.8%) |
$1,900,000 |
$1,503,000 (+25.4%) |
| Average Price |
$2,044,930 (+3.2%) |
$1,982,470 |
$1,615,810 (+26.6%) |
| No. of Sales |
62 (+44.2%) |
43 |
75 (-17.3%) |
| Pending |
89 (+8.5%) |
82 |
61 (+45.9%) |
| Active |
46 (+53.3%) |
30 |
42 (+9.5%) |
| Sale vs. List Price |
116.4% (-6.0%) |
123.8% |
113.0% (+3.0%) |
| Days on Market |
9 (+41.5%) |
6 |
10 (-12.0%) |
| Days of Inventory |
22 (+2.8%) |
21 |
16 (+32.5%) |
Cambrian Park Altos Research
Here’s a different kind of chart for the Cambrian Park real estate market courtesy of Altos Research (which uses LIST prices for its charts). The next few data sheets show the housing market trends, live and updated weekly. My observations are from the most recent data at the time of writing, March 10th. This first item reflects the weekly Altos Research report right now for San Jose 95124 and will provide an approximation of how much home your money can buy in this district of San Jose.
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