by Mary Pope-Handy, Clair Handy | Mar 15, 2023 | Market Reports, Most Popular Articles, Sunnyvale
The Sunnyvale real estate market, like the rest of Santa Clara County, has been heating up. Some of this is seasonally typical.
Sunnyvale real estate market trends and stats at a glance
Here is a quick data table with the trends at a glance for the Sunnyvale real estate market:
- The average sale price of Sunnyvale homes was up a hair in February as compared to January, but down 18.4% from a year ago.
- The number of homes sold rose to 19 from 15 in January. In Feb 2022 it was 30 sold homes.
- Pending sales rose dramatically to 85 in Feb from 65 in January and is even higher than in Feb 2022.
- The sale to list price ratio rose to 103.1% in February from 98.7% in January – of course this is far below a year ago.
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.)
| Trends At a Glance |
Feb 2023 |
Previous Month |
Year-over-Year |
| Median Price |
$2,050,000 (-2.4%) |
$2,100,000 |
$2,507,940 (-18.3%) |
| Average Price |
$1,960,840 (+0.1%) |
$1,958,130 |
$2,403,200 (-18.4%) |
| No. of Sales |
19 (+26.7%) |
15 |
30 (-36.7%) |
| Pending |
85 (+30.8%) |
65 |
84 (+1.2%) |
| Active |
29 (-9.4%) |
32 |
27 (+7.4%) |
| Sale vs. List Price |
103.1% (+4.4%) |
98.7% |
125.4% (-17.8%) |
| Days on Market |
22 (-41.4%) |
37 |
7 (+192.2%) |
| Days of Inventory |
41 (-35.6%) |
64 |
24 (+69.6%) |
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.
(more…)
by Mary Pope-Handy | Apr 30, 2022 | Eichler & mid-century modern, Home Types, Houses, Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, Palo Alto, Santa Clara, Saratoga, Sunnyvale, West San Jose, Willow Glen (SJ)
Mid-century modern homes, including those designed by Joseph Eichler, dot the Silicon Valley & South Bay Area real estate landscape. There are probably more than 5,000 Eichlers in Santa Clara County altogether, plus all the other homes of that genre with the similar modern style, which was influenced by the ranch and prarie styles as well as the dramatic work by Frank Lloyd Wright (open beam ceilings, nearly flat roofs, lots of exposed wood & glass windows stretching from the floor to the ceiling). Eichlers, especially, put a premium on privacy from the street but open to the outdoors otherwise.
Not every community in Santa Clara County has Eichler homes, but most have the mid-century modern style homes & neighborhoods. These homes vary from tiny, modest cottages of 1100 square feet to large & elegant houses of nearly 3,000 square feet, featuring big, central atriums or courtyards. (There are also some co-ops in the valley too.) The quality varies, as the homes were constructed by several different builders with different home buying budgets in mind. Real estate prices range from “entry level” to very expensive, depending on the location (city and schools), size of the home & lot, and condition of the property. Most of them are now about 50 years old, though some are a little younger.
Some of the West Side Silicon Valley Communities which feature Eichler and Mid-Century Modern Homes
In Los Gatos there are no Eichlers but there are a small handful of single family homes which are mid-century modern on Eastridge Drive (just off Blossom Hill Road and Hillbrook). There are a couple more at the end of Magnuson Terrace (off Magnuson Loop and Los Gatos Blvd). Additionally, there are some smaller mid-50s homes on El Gato (and adjacent portions of Escobar) off of Los Gatos-Almaden Road. Unfortunately, not all of these homes are “well kept”, though many are.
Monte Sereno is home to 16 Eichler houses on Via Sereno beginning at the intersection of Winchester Blvd with Via Sereno. These houses were built in the late 60s to early 70s.
(more…)
by Mary Pope-Handy | Jun 12, 2020 | Almaden Valley (SJ), Los Gatos, Market Info, Milpitas, Mountain View, Sunnyvale
How can you tell if it’s really a buyer’s market or seller’s market? One important data point is the months or inventory, also known as the absorption rate.
The months of inventory (MOI) tells us how long it would take for the current inventory to be absorbed if sales continue at the same rate and no new inventory were to be added.
What is the months of inventory?
The best explanation given to me for the absorption rate uses the analogy of a bathtub draining. If the tub has water in it, and no new water is added, and the drain is opened (and drains at a constant rate), how long will it take for the water to all be eliminated?
So too with Silicon Valley homes for sale. How long would it take for the current supply to be bought up if no new listings came on the market? That’s the question. It can be days of inventory, weeks of inventory, or months of inventory – or any other chunk of time you want to use. My monthly Silicon Valley RE Report uses days of inventory, referenced via DOI in the chart below, where you can see that the average days of inventory for the county is 61, or about 2 months. A quick scan down that column will provide a sense of the market for each city and town.
The faster the absorption rate, the easier it is for sellers to sell and the harder it is for buyers to buy. In the U.S., about 5- 6 months of inventory is a balanced market. Here in Silicon Valley, balanced is probably closer to 4 months of inventory.
Readers of this blog know that I really like the multi year view of data, and I think with the months of inventory that’s also really helpful. Here’s the rate for Santa Clara County, single family homes, from January 2014 to May 2020 (needs a full month to be accurate).
For the month of may, the months of inventory was 2.2, which is significantly more than most of the last six years, and double the height of the market in 2017 and 2018. Translation: buyers, this is the best it’s been for you to buy in years. Yes there may be multiple offers – but if so, it is very likely to be much calmer than this time last year or at any other time for this same season in years.
(more…)
by Mary Pope-Handy | Feb 25, 2020 | Almaden Valley (SJ), Blossom Valley (SJ), Cambrian Park (SJ), Campbell, Cupertino, Los Altos, Los Gatos, Market Info, Market Reports, Mountain View, Neighborhoods, Palo Alto, San Jose (all areas), Saratoga, Silicon Valley, Sunnyvale, Willow Glen (SJ)
It can be really challenging for people moving to Silicon Valley to get a sense of real estate prices, and perhaps more, comparing cost of from one town or district to another.
One question I get a lot is this: what does it cost to buy a 4 bedroom, 2 bath house of about 2000 square feet?
So to answer this question, let’s see what houses like this are selling for (4 bed, 2 bath, appx 2000 SF or 185 square meters) and see how the cost looks in one Santa Clara County / Silicon Valley area versus another.
Comparing Costs
Today I compared several areas and cities using this criteria: single family homes of 1800 – 2200 SF, 3-5 bedrooms, 2-3 bathrooms, on lot sizes of 6000 SF to 10,000 SF. Normally I would chart this over the last 2 months, or 60 days, but because of the low inventory causing the sellers market I have expanded the search to the last 3 months, or 90 days, for a better range. Because some areas have had a scarcity of inventory, I’ve added an addition to the chart titled NoS for Number of Sales within the given range.
Here’s how it shakes out in the “west valley areas” along the Highway 85 corridor, most of which are known to have good to great public schools. What areas are most affordable? One way of analyzing this is the “price per square foot” figure. Whenever I update the chart, I re-arrange the order of the cities from high to low based on the price per square foot, although there’s usually minimal movement.
Within this range, Campbell only had one sale over the last 90 days, so data for that segment may or may not be a good average. Both Los Altos and Saratoga had no sales within the last 90 days within these criteria, so their searches have been expanded to 0-180 days (or 6 months / half a year) and 0-120 days (or 4 months / a quarter year) respectively to provide data for comparison for this chart. Now that we have the data, let’s analyze it!
(more…)
by Mary Pope-Handy | Jan 21, 2019 | Cupertino, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Selling Tips, Sunnyvale
It’s a seller’s market in Silicon Valley right now. Many sellers are getting multiple offers and overbids, especially in Cupertino, Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Palo Alto and Menlo Park. For home owners trying to maximize their sales price, does it make sense to have an “offer deadline”?
Maybe.
If you are pretty confident that you can get multiple offers, the deadline helps in a few ways.
- it prevents the offer situation from being a mere “foot race” (fastest one wins, rather than highest offer and best terms)
- it allows everyone enough time to see the house, read the inspections, disclosures etc.
- it provides enough time for the sellers and agents to plan
As with all strategic plans, this one can backfire too. If you or your agent publishes an offer deadline and then no bids are forthcoming, it’s more than just a let down. It’s a market signal that this home is overvalued by its owner and agent. Then, suddenly, it can appear to be an old or stale listing, even if it’s just been on the market 7 to 10 days.
Many real estate agents take a middle path, saying nothing about offers until agents ask. If they are asked, they will give a date in the future – usually a couple of days after the open house. But the MLS won’t say it for these agents unless they hear many buyers’ agents asking about offer presentation. They don’t want to look bad, they don’t want your house to look bad.
We never know until a property goes on the market how it will fare. It is wise to be cautious about advertising an offer date unless you are very certain that you will be seeing multiples! The market right now is a little funny. Homes priced aggressively are getting multiple offers. Homes priced AT value are not moving quite so fast. And homes price for values in spring of 2018 are not selling well at all.
by Mary Pope-Handy | May 10, 2014 | Cupertino, Los Altos, Los Gatos, Market Info, Market Reports, San Jose (all areas), Santa Clara, Santa Clara County (all), Sunnyvale, West San Jose, Working in real estate
Today I’m sharing with you Silicon Valley real estate statistics which were presented to me by my company, Sereno Group. These are “by school district” and I think you will find them immensely insightful! First, though, a brief commentary on the overall findings, then statistics for single family homes (mostly houses but a few “duet homes”) in Santa Clara County, and lastly, the same info but for condominiums and townhouses.
Please find the real estate market statistics by school district in the Santa Clara County area next. Please note that the San Jose Unified School District is extremely large and varied, and the numbers would be very different if you were narrowing it to Almaden Valley with Leland High School as opposed to some areas which are not performing nearly as well.
(more…)
by Mary Pope-Handy | Jun 27, 2013 | Market Reports, Sunnyvale
Today I spent a little time gathering the month over month and year over year median sales price changes in Sunnyvale from my Santa Clara County ReReport (you can do it too, it just takes time). Sunnyvale has felt like a bubble in that the appreciation has been too steep, too long for it to be sustainable.
Is it a bubble? The market is calming down or leveling out a bit in many places – but how about Sunnyvale?. Jobs are strong. Many firms are hiring. There remains a housing shortage. But the rate of appreciation has been crazy high. Rather than speculate about how good (sellers) or bad (buyers) it is, let’s see how strong the change has been.
The image below shows the increase or decrease of the median sales price for single family homes in Sunnyvale, first month over month, and then year over year from May 2011 to May 2013. The the last 12 months, the year over year average change to the median sales price has been a whopping 22%. One month it was 60%! (It was when that was happening that I screamed “bubble” on this blog.) (more…)
by Mary Pope-Handy | Jun 7, 2013 | Almaden Valley (SJ), Cupertino, Los Altos, Los Gatos, Market Reports, Monte Sereno, Saratoga, Sunnyvale, Uncategorized
Days on market for several “west valley” communities within Silicon Valley
For people relocating to Silicon Valley, often there’s not just one city, town or area which seems like a good fit. Sometimes it may come down to what your money can buy or how difficult it is to purchase in one area versus another. This is frequently the case with the “West Valley” areas where schools are good and the neighborhoods are tidy.
There are two statistics which are especially helpful in understanding the Santa Clara County real estate market. One is the “days on market” or DOM. The shorter this is, the hotter the market – and the harder it is to purchase. The second is the sale price to list price ratio, which hints at the existence of multiple offers, overbids, and buyers giving away all of their rights.
Today, then, we’ll have a look at these, starting with Almaden, the southernmost area, and working our way north along the coastal range. The charts below are all for single family homes (houses and duet homes, not condos or townhomes).
Almaden Valley is a district within the city of San Jose. Its boundaries roughly follow the 95120 zip code, though there are some parts of nearby zip codes which somewhat overlap into Almaden too. How’s the Almaden market? Red hot! Days on market is crazy low – a mere 16! And the average sale price is almost 104% of list price…and rising!
| Trends At a Glance |
May 2013 |
Previous Month |
Year-over-Year |
| Median Price |
$0 (N/A) |
$0 |
$0 (N/A) |
| Average Price |
$0 (N/A) |
$0 |
$0 (N/A) |
| No. of Sales |
0 (N/A) |
0 |
0 (N/A) |
| Pending |
0 (N/A) |
0 |
0 (N/A) |
| Active |
0 (N/A) |
0 |
0 (N/A) |
| Sale vs. List Price |
0.0% (N/A) |
0.0% |
0.0% (N/A) |
| Days on Market |
0 (N/A) |
0 |
0 (N/A) |
| Days of Inventory |
0 (N/A) |
0 |
0 (N/A) |
Los Gatos is a bit north of Almaden and has many micro-markets within it based on proximity to downtown Los Gatos, the school districts, view of the hills or valley and many other factors. (This is “in town”, zip codes 95030 and 95032, not the Los Gatos Mountains 95033.) The market is also red hot in Los Gatos! The days on market are significantly longer (36 as opposed to Almaden’s 16), but the sale price to list price ratio is a tad higher here.
(more…)
by Mary Pope-Handy | May 20, 2013 | Cupertino, Local History, Palo Alto, Saratoga, Sunnyvale
The other day I was hunting for local maps of Santa Clara County (Silicon Valley) dating back 100 years or so, and although I didn’t find exactly what I wanted, I did find a treasure trove that I hadn’t expected to find at all.
Here please find a tiny snippet of a USGS Map from the late 1890s (actually part of the Palo Alto Map). According to my husband, who has a hobby of viewing and collecting maps, each “dot” on this image represents a house. If that is the case, you can see how sparcely populated Saratoga and Cupertino were at this time.
And what is that Azule Springs? Was it another hot springs type resort, like Saratoga Springs? A map like this raises a lot of questions!
If you love – or at least enjoy – history, I invite you to visit the USGS website and look at the historic maps there. One section includes Palo Alto, Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Cupertino and the coastal areas such as Santa Cruz and Half Moon Bay. Another section of the map includes Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, Campbell, Almaden, Cambrian Park, Santa Clara and many parts of San Jose.
It’s fun to see where things “used to be” and how they “used to be called”. Take a few minutes and enjoy!
by Mary Pope-Handy | Mar 9, 2013 | Almaden Valley (SJ), Cambrian Park (SJ), Campbell, Cupertino, Los Gatos, Market Reports, Monte Sereno, Mountain View, Palo Alto, San Jose (all areas), Santa Clara, Saratoga, Silicon Valley, Sunnyvale, Willow Glen (SJ)
Is it a good time to sell a home in Silicon Valley? One of the best ways to get a pulse on the real estate market is with the months of inventory (MOI), also known as the absorption rate. The way we calculate it is simple: find the current available inventory (not under contract or sale pending), then find the number of homes with that exact criteria which have closed escrow in the last 30 days. Divide the first by the second and you get the months of inventory.
Today I spent a little time on MLSListings.com, our local mls association (of which I am a member) and I ran the numbers for single family homes (houses and duet homes) in Cupertino, Los Altos, Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, Mountain View, Palo Alto, San Jose (all areas combined), Santa Clara, Saratoga, Sunnyvale and three of San Jose’s districts: Almaden, Cambrian, and Willow Glen. Below, please find the results of that study. (This is for single family homes of any price range or school district in each city or area named.)
Which are the hottest markets? They’re the ones with the smallest MOI – Mountain View is at .56 of a month (about 2 weeks), Sunnyvale at .66 month (about 2.5 – 3 weeks), Cupertino at .8 of a month, Palo Alto .81. All of these are very, very red hot seller’s markets. Every area, city or town studied was a hot market except for Monte Sereno, which at any given time has few listings and few sales plus a wide range of pricing, so often for this small city it’s best to look at the Los Gatos and Saratoga stats to see what’s really happening. A few very high priced listings may make the whole area look slow, when it fact it may be just a function of the pricing tier. (more…)
