San Jose’s Evergreen district is in a seller’s market with significant cooling in this late summer market. This article will examine the data from sales and active listings in this residential real estate market with live charts and monthly updates. Here are a few points from the latest Evergreen single family housing market update, provided in more detail below:
August sales took an average of 37 days on market, 2 weeks longer than the month before, and more than a week slower than last year.
The sales to list price ratio plunged to 101.9%, a massive drop month-over-month, but still above this time last year. Last year, it plunged from 115.2% of asking in March 2022 down to 98.4% by July. There was some up and down since, however we are past the biggest drops and the market has been heating up most of this year, finally beginning to cool off again at the tail end of summer.
Single family home sales prices in August dipped a hair according to the average while the median price rose month-over-month, with both values up approximately 11-19% year-over-year.
The Evergreen area of San Jose includes many newer homes and communities. It is a desirable Silicon Valley district as Evergreen is scenic and most of the area enjoys highly regarded schools, particularly at the elementary and middle school levels.
Evergreen Real Estate Market Report: Single Family Homes
The RE Report considers all of the Evergreen district together. Please find the full report on my Real Estate Report for the Evergreen area of San Jose. Further down, you’ll see live charts with more zip code specific details.
The market is showing a strong sellers market, with clear cooling in the data since the month before. Still, this hot market is far from balanced.
Active inventory more than doubled month-over-month, but remains far below this time last year or any more typical summer market. Closed sales also shrank since the last month and last year. Despite that, pending sales were up from the month before.
The sales to list price ratio dropped by 3% in one month, but remains above this time last year for the 3rd month in a row. Homes on average are taking about 5 weeks to sell, and prices are about 10% – 20% higher than this time last year.
Data indicates a strong seller’s market with end-of-summer cooling for Evergreen’s real estate market.
Trends at a Glance
Trends At a Glance
Aug 2023
Previous Month
Year-over-Year
Median Price
$1,757,500 (+7.0%)
$1,642,500
$1,472,500 (+19.4%)
Average Price
$1,728,920 (-1.2%)
$1,749,350
$1,555,530 (+11.1%)
No. of Sales
20 (-16.7%)
24
30 (-33.3%)
Pending
26 (+23.8%)
21
39 (-33.3%)
Active
21 (+50.0%)
14
64 (-67.2%)
Sale vs. List Price
101.9% (-3.0%)
105.0%
99.5% (+2.4%)
Days on Market
37 (+64.3%)
23
28 (+34.9%)
Days of Inventory
32 (+80.0%)
18
64 (-50.8%)
Altos Research: Evergreen real estate market for single family homes or houses by zip code
The San Jose real estate market remains red hot. While it is a clear seller’s market, remaining active into late summer, it’s a very different market compared to last year’s spring peak. Demand may have shrunk, but inventory has plunged to extreme lows so it’s still far from balanced!
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 August 2023 sale price to list price ratio for San Jose single family homes slipped to 105.8% of asking, that’s -1.3% from last month per the RE Report and +5.9% from this time last year when the market was falling. For the MLS stats we pulled today, however, it shows 105.2% average in August, down from 106.9% (-1.7%) in July. Either way, the average home is selling consistently over list price in San Jose with consistent overbidding through summer.
Home prices are up from last year by approximately 12%-15% after being behind for much of this year (RE Report), and month-over-month closed sales values remained mostly stable.
The time on market sped up a hair month-over-month to a 15 day average (RE Report). When I pulled them directly, it was 17 in August and 16 in July (not shown below). Either way, it’s quick turnover averaging well below a month, making it a clear seller’s market.
Market Data: What Numbers Make a Difference
While prices and overbids have fallen significantly since last year, in some ways this year has been even more challenging for buyers. For most buyers, their ability to purchase has been severely impacted by higher rates on home loans. But the biggest hurdle for many buyers is the extreme lack of available homes.
Since March 2023 San Jose has had record breaking low inventory, continually breaking records as the lowest available listings by month in over a decade, according to the MLS data pulled today in the chart below. And it doesn’t look like inventory will be picking up any time soon, either.
Why such low inventory?
While in a more typical market we might have a number of sellers looking to “move up” or downsize, most homeowners today couldn’t afford to move or don’t want to take on a higher-rate mortgage. Now it seems like a higher percentage of the listings we are seeing comes from investors, people leaving the area, and sales by family after a death – cases where there is no pressure to repurchase or where selling is the only option. That limits significantly what is available to buyers!
Although inventory remains at record-breaking lows with higher demand than availability, sale prices and overbids are not breaking records like last year’s peak. Many buyers are experiencing significantly more pressure from higher interest rates, fluctuating stocks, and other factors limiting purchase power and lowering confidence. That said, not every home will face the same challenges – there are loads of micro markets that influence how well any given home does, so take this city-wide data with a grain of salt.
Inventory remains severely low – if you’re an active home buyer, it is slim pickings!
San Jose Real Estate Market Trends at a Glance (RE Report)
Trends At a Glance
Aug 2023
Previous Month
Year-over-Year
Median Price
$1,610,000 (-0.6%)
$1,620,000
$1,400,000 (+15.0%)
Average Price
$1,707,110 (+0.4%)
$1,701,140
$1,522,860 (+12.1%)
No. of Sales
311 (+16.5%)
267
358 (-13.1%)
Pending
272 (+5.4%)
258
501 (-45.7%)
Active
224 (+5.2%)
213
532 (-57.9%)
Sale vs. List Price
105.8% (-1.3%)
107.2%
100.0% (+5.9%)
Days on Market
15 (-8.1%)
17
23 (-34.0%)
Days of Inventory
22 (-9.7%)
24
45 (-51.5%)
Available inventory is about a third of what it was this time last year, while pending sales are not quite down by half, and closed sales have barely budged by comparison. Please keep reading below for more data and market analysis.
The Ranch on Silver Creek is a newer subdivision in the Evergreen area of San Jose with the 95138 zip code (that zip code is shared with part of South San Jose on the valley floor). It enjoys a lovely knoll top location – and recently I flew over it and grabbed a nice image to share with my readers here:
Aerial view of The Ranch on Silver Creek (taken by MPH in January 2019)
What is the neighborhood like on The Ranch on Silver Creek?
Mediterranean or contemporary style homes were built there between 2003 and 2006 – which makes them practically “brand new” by Silicon Valley real estate standards! The community is set around a golf course & clubhouse and is nestled in the hills such that there are many different views available from one area to the next without leaving the neighborhood. Many San Jose area home buyers strongly prefer newer homes in newer communities, rather than a remodeled home in an older neighborhood, and this area will certainly fill that requirement. It’s a tidy area with sidewalks which invite a comfortable stroll to discover the sights.
In Evergreen: The Ranch on Silver Creek’s view of Downtown San Jose
What are homes like at The Ranch?
There are a few hundred homes, so there’s quite a bit of variety there. Entry level townhomes are nice, but fairly modest, and at the other end of the spectrum there are estate quality properties on large view lots.
Houses range from about 2,000 square feet to more than 4,000 square feet. The tiniest parcels or lots are less than 4,000 SF and are townhomes or town houses, and the largest homes, generally, sit on land sized between 1/3 and 1/2 acre (though most are not so big).
Many houses are 2 stories, but there’s a fair number of single story homes, too. Most properties include an attached 2 car garage.
High ceilings, open floor plans, plenty of windows with lots of natural light are all typical here at the Ranch.
As with most newer construction, these houses are built on slab foundations.
Evergreen the Ranch subdivision 1
What does it cost to buy a house at The Ranch? How’s the real estate market?
Nestled in the rolling foothills of San Jose’s southeastern Evergreen area is a hidden gem known simply as the Villages.
As you drive up to the secured entrance, you’ll spot a sign: The Villages a Country Club Community. They take that claim to heart. A gated, community-oriented neighborhood centered around numerous country club amenities creates an immersive home for its residents. However this is a senior community, so to live at the Villages you have to be 55 or older (also known as an adult community or seniors community). Therefore many residents are retirees who are active, love entertaining guests, and don’t want to mow the lawn every week. But you don’t have to be a resident to enjoy the country club side of things.
The Villages
Only about a 20 minute drive from downtown San Jose, this area was once agricultural land with vineyards. It is still home to the impressive William Wehner historic mansion, constructed in 1888 and designed by architect David Burnham (this estate is currently closed to the public). The mansion is sometimes called the Cribari Mansion for its later owners, a name that was adopted by the first Village development. The original stone columns (circa 1891) for the estate’s original drive still stand as a prominent feature on one of the golf courses.
Today, the community is still surrounded by untouched rolling hills. And that natural beauty is staying put, as the Villages owns 550 acres of open space with community hiking trails. (more…)
With our 300 sunny days per year in Silicon Valley (at least most years!), golf is a sport enjoyed year round here in the San Jose area. Living near a golf course, or having a golf course view, is highly desirable as it provides scenic open space as well as convenience for avid golfers.
Silicon Valley Golf Homes, Silicon Valley Golf Properties
There are beautiful courses throughout the South Bay Area and it’s possible to find small condos with views of them at fairly affordable prices (Sunnyvale’s Sunken Gardens area is one of them). Today, though, I want to provide a list of homes for sale near golf courses in the foothill areas of Silicon Valley. Many of these will also be luxury homes. So the MLS list of these houses on the market which you can browse includes these areas:
San Jose areas including Evergreen & Silver Creek, Santa Teresa, Blossom Valley and Almaden; Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, Saratoga, Cupertino, and Los Altos.
There are golf courses to be found in other parts of Santa Clara County too (Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara and more) – let me know if you are interested in these parts and I can send you a link for searching them for similar residential real estate.
Here are a available or recently sold homes near to golf clubs:
8865 Wine Valley Circle, San Jose, is a wonderful home for sale (my listing) in The Villages Golf & Country Club, a 55+ community. This detached, single story house provides 2 bedrooms plus den or home office, 2.5 bathrooms, living-dining areas plus a family room open to the nook and island kitchen. Built in 1997, this single family home enjoys tall ceilings and abundant natural light in an appealing, open floor plan.
Feel free to visit the Virtual Tour here, or keep reading for the details!
8865 Wine Valley Circle, San Jose CA 95135
8865 Wine Valley Circle – quick facts:
Offered at $1,050,000
MLS # ML81778777
2 bedrooms + den or home office
2.5 bathrooms
2256 SF of living space
4977 SF lot
single story, detached house
built in 1997
central air conditioning
dual pane windows
3 sun tunnels
high ceilings, recessed lights
laundry room
large 2 car garage with extra storage
nearly carpet free (only carpeting is in one closet) – most of the home has wood laminate flooring
Yesterday on my way home from a final walk through on a property in Blossom Valley, I stopped by some open houses – following signs, just like a lot of consumers do. At one of the homes I spoke with a Realtor who’s starting to see a slowing in the real estate market. That hasn’t been my own experience, so I asked him about his take on things and he mentioned the rising inventory in areas where he’s active in Silicon Valley.
There are many ways to get a pulse on the market, but perhaps one of the easiest ways to check it is to see the sale price to list price ratio and the days on market. MLSListings, my local multiple listing service (of which I am a member), does some wonderful things with interactive graphs and charts, so I made use of that tool to see how San Jose is faring as a whole and also in some of the zip codes where I sometimes sell homes. The charts below are for single family homes (not condos, townhomes, duplexes, etc.) and are by zip code for all price ranges. Remember, stats are easily skewed one way or the other, and we might have seen different results if we teased it out by home size, lot size, school district, price point, presence of an in-ground pool, or any other factors. This is the “big picture”. First, then, San Jose as a whole.
What we see here is that homes are selling faster (shorter and shorter DOM or Days on Market) and a rising sales price to list price ratio. Both of these indicate a strong seller’s market for the city of San Jose as a whole. Next, we’ll list a sampling of zip codes in San Jose, primarily along the west side (where I tend to be more active in my sales) but not exclusively so. I’m putting these in numerical order.
In San Jose’s 95112 zip code, which is Downtown San Jose, it’s a mixed bag. The sale price to list price ratio is rising (seller’s market) but the days on market are also rising (softening market). This area would require more information – it could be that a few homes have been on the market for a very long time and skewing the stats, or homes in certain price points are just not selling. From this vantage, though, it looks like 95112 is mixed.
Many newcomers to the San Jose & Silicon Valley areas want to buy new homes (or newer ones). Santa Clara County, though, had a big “building boom” after World War II ranging from the 1940s through the 70s. At the end of the building frenzy, most of the land was taken. More importantly, most of the really good land was built up.
How old is the “average” San Jose home for sale? Probably about 45 – 50 years old, on average. Depending on where you’re looking, precisely, the homes could be younger or older on average.
There are some nice communities of new and younger homes in Silicon Valley, but there aren’t a lot of them. Most of the new home communities have houses on small lots. Some are near high voltage power lines (homes on Taft in San Jose’s Cambrian Park area) or next to freeways (Summerhill development off Samaritan Drive in San Jose).
If you arrived into Silicon Valley via Highway 101, driving south from San Francisco, you might believe that the Santa Clara Valley, the San Jose area and Silicon Valley as a whole has got to seem to be the ugliest place on earth. Although heavily traveled, that is not the “scenic route”.
So, too, if you are looking for a place to live and are groping to find a place that is reasonably priced, fairly safe and not a terrible commute distance. You might not even have “is nice looking” on your wish list. You might not think it’s possible if all you ever see are the ugly concrete tilt-up buildings in north San Jose, Santa Clara, Alviso, or anywhere along the 237 corridor. That area is an architectural wasteland.
Let me assure you: there are a lot of beautiful places in Silicon Valley where you can rent or buy a home. But how do you find them? It helps a lot to have a local give you a few pointers. I’ll give you some tips today on finding a scenic place to live.
Hills – An easy way to find a scenic location to make your home is to settle near the hills, especially those in the west valley (the Santa Cruz Mountains or the Coastal Range) as they are green year-round. Communities at the base of the west valley foothills include, in Santa Clara County, Palo Alto, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Cupertino, Saratoga, Monte Sereno, Los Gatos, and the Almaden Valley area of San Jose. All of these areas are adjacent to the hills or mountains and offer far better than average schools (many of them qualify as great – compare costs between these areas). (more…)
Today let’s look at the Santa Clara County real estate market, the days on market (DOM) and the sale price to list price ratio for houses and duet homes (single family homes). This will primarily be graphs that I created using MLSListings.com (our local MLS, to which I am a paying member). We’ll consider the county as a whole and various cities or towns within it, plus areas of San Jose, as it has about a million residents.
First: Santa Clara County homes over the last year. Please note the decreasing days on market, the increasing sale price to list price ratio in recent months. This is exactly what an appreciating market looks like!
Santa Clara County average days on market and sale price to list price ratio
Next, let’s have a peek at how some of the hottest markets in Silicon Valley look, starting with Sunnyvale. It is odd to see any kind of a blip on the sale price to list price ratio. Are buyers giving some push-back? We keep hearing stories of homes selling 30% or more over list price with gobs of offers. So the SP – LP ratio change is a surprise.
Sunnyvale average days on market and sale price to list price ratio Sunnyvale
Palo Alto is always the hottest ticket in town. (more…)
Christie's International Real Estate Sereno, Los Gatos, CA 95030 408 204-7673 Mary@PopeHandy.com License# 01153805
Clair Handy, Realtor
GREEN
Christie's International Real Estate Sereno 214 Los Gatos-Saratoga Rd Los Gatos, CA 95030 ClairHandy@sereno.com License# 02153633
Mary & Clair sell homes throughout Silicon Valley: Santa Clara County, San Mateo County, and Santa Cruz County. with a special focus on: San Jose, Los Gatos, Saratoga, Campbell, Almaden Valley, Cambrian Park.
The real estate search
Use this link to browse properties which are for sale, under contract (pending) or sold. Want to view only homes which are available now?
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San Jose’s Evergreen district is in a seller’s market with significant cooling in this late summer market. This article will examine the data from sales and active listings in this residential real estate market with live charts and monthly updates. Here are a few points from the latest Evergreen single family housing market update, provided in more detail below:
Nestled in the rolling foothills of San Jose’s southeastern Evergreen area is a hidden gem known simply as the Villages.
