The Santa Clara Women’s Club (old adobe house)
http://www.santaclarawomansclub.org/
Update on the Santa Clara real estate market: The realty market in the city of Santa Clara, like the rest of Silicon Valley, is one in which the sellers have the upper hand, though it has seen significant softening. What is key for home sellers is to price according to today’s market.
That being said, this March brought some major changes that are affecting the market. While we are starting to see a clearer picture of how things have changed in this month’s data it will take a while to see the end result. To read more about the Coronavirus impact on real estate sales, check my post on the topic.
During the shutdown so far, the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) stopped the timer on all Days on Market (DOM). Therefore these numbers will be off beginning from March 17th through around May 17th. In the data below, this will affect any numbers related to the days on market, the absorption rate, and the days of inventory. That means the current data will be accurate, but disregard the data from March through May in those fields.
Below there are charts for the market activity over the last few months. Although it’s been on the rise for months, it’s finally begun to dip again. Low inventory from the past year and continuous low inventory around the rest of the Valley means there is still a greater demand to fill than properties available. Further 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 market action still on the rise.
Data from my RE Report:
Next, stats at a glance for the Santa Clara real estate market for single family homes. See the statistics and trends for closings and listings for last month – updated each month on about the 5th – 10th on my RE Report site for realty stats & trends in Santa Clara:
Trends at a Glance
Seasonal cooling is normal in winter, but this year we never saw a strong shift – it remained a hot market through winter getting progressively hotter towards spring. That being said, spring saw significant cooling since March with the pandemic.
In September, active inventory fell, sales grew, and pending sales rose both month over month and year over year. The sales to list price ratio reduced to a still hot 102.8%. To give that some perspective, this ratio fell from a whopping 111.9% in March to a low of 100.3% by only June! Prices fell a hair since the month before but remain high year over year. Homes are selling quickly, averaging 21 days on market. High demand with low inventory is creating a hot market in Santa Clara.
| Trends At a Glance | Sep 2020 | Previous Month | Year-over-Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median Price | $1,405,000 (-6.2%) | $1,497,500 | $1,240,000 (+13.3%) |
| Average Price | $1,461,490 (-4.6%) | $1,532,350 | $1,257,440 (+16.2%) |
| No. of Sales | 57 (+5.6%) | 54 | 47 (+21.3%) |
| Pending | 66 (+13.8%) | 58 | 42 (+57.1%) |
| Active | 41 (-22.6%) | 53 | 57 (-28.1%) |
| Sale vs. List Price | 102.8% (-1.6%) | 104.5% | 99.4% (+3.4%) |
| Days on Market | 21 (+69.7%) | 13 | 32 (-33.9%) |
| Days of Inventory | 21 (-29.2%) | 29 | 35 (-40.7%) |
And last month:
| Trends At a Glance | Aug 2020 | Previous Month | Year-over-Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median Price | $1,497,500 (-0.2%) | $1,500,000 | $1,289,000 (+16.2%) |
| Average Price | $1,532,350 (+1.7%) | $1,506,250 | $1,363,550 (+12.4%) |
| No. of Sales | 54 (0.0%) | 54 | 44 (+22.7%) |
| Pending | 58 (+18.4%) | 49 | 47 (+23.4%) |
| Active | 53 (-1.9%) | 54 | 61 (-13.1%) |
| Sale vs. List Price | 104.5% (+1.7%) | 102.8% | 100.7% (+3.8%) |
| Days on Market | 13 (-51.0%) | 26 | 26 (-51.4%) |
| Days of Inventory | 29 (-1.9%) | 30 | 42 (-29.2%) |
Santa Clara list prices of houses for sale by zip codes (95050, 95051, 95054)
In addition to the RE Report, I also have a subscription to Altos Research, which uses list prices (not sales data) for tracking the pulse of the market.
Here see list prices by zip code, as well as the city of Santa Clara as a whole – note how different they are! At the start of the year, the four areas moved much closer together than usual in recent months, though they’ve separated again since then. If we teased it out even more, by price point, school district or exact location, we would see a myriad of “micro markets.”
In the chart above, it’s very clear the real estate trends often vary from one Santa Clara zip code to the next. If we pulled it apart further and checked each zip code by price quartile, there’d be differences there also, as the low end and high end segments are often very, very different from each other.
Santa Clara condominium and townhouse real estate market
First, another city profile for the condominiums and townhouses in the city of Santa Clara.
The condo and townhome market in Santa Clara is warming up some and remains consistently in a slight seller’s advantage. This market is no where near as active as single family housing for this area.
Condo Market Trends at a Glance from the RE Report
The Santa Clara condo and townhome market faced some clear cooling this spring. Condos certainly did not experience the same level of market heating as the housing market, nor as significant a cooling. The sale price to list price ratio has risen to 102.4%. Sales and active inventory fell while and pending sales rose. Days on market are speeding up and pricing is stable.
Surprisingly, condos have an unusually high level of active inventory. For weary buyers, this could be a good opportunity. Overall, this is a mild seller’s market, not nearly as strong as single family houses in this area, which fits the usual trend for Santa Clara condos.
Please click on link for full details on Santa Clara condominiums and townhomes on my Santa Clara County RE Report.
| Trends At a Glance | Sep 2020 | Previous Month | Year-over-Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median Price | $1,050,000 (-0.6%) | $1,056,000 | $1,015,000 (+3.4%) |
| Average Price | $978,650 (-8.3%) | $1,067,300 | $1,025,760 (-4.6%) |
| No. of Sales | 23 (-11.5%) | 26 | 31 (-25.8%) |
| Pending | 47 (+62.1%) | 29 | 19 (+147.4%) |
| Active | 68 (-10.5%) | 76 | 55 (+23.6%) |
| Sale vs. List Price | 102.1% (+0.7%) | 101.4% | 99.3% (+2.8%) |
| Days on Market | 22 (-29.2%) | 31 | 21 (+3.6%) |
| Days of Inventory | 86 (-2.2%) | 88 | 51 (+66.6%) |
And last month:
| Trends At a Glance | Aug 2020 | Previous Month | Year-over-Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median Price | $1,056,000 (+30.0%) | $812,500 | $955,000 (+10.6%) |
| Average Price | $1,067,300 (+23.3%) | $865,377 | $969,500 (+10.1%) |
| No. of Sales | 26 (-18.8%) | 32 | 22 (+18.2%) |
| Pending | 29 (+11.5%) | 26 | 26 (+11.5%) |
| Active | 76 (+38.2%) | 55 | 52 (+46.2%) |
| Sale vs. List Price | 101.4% (+1.1%) | 100.3% | 100.0% (+1.4%) |
| Days on Market | 31 (+25.6%) | 25 | 23 (+36.8%) |
| Days of Inventory | 88 (+70.1%) | 52 | 71 (+23.7%) |
Santa Clara list prices of condos & townhomes for sale by zip codes (95050, 95051, 95054)
Showing prices charted by zip codes, there’s a much broader spread here than for houses right now. 95054 tops the chart by a long shot while the other three zip codes are currently clustered unusually close together near the bottom of the chart. While market demand is high, the market’s not where we would expect if this were any other year.
For information on buying or selling residential real estate in the city of Santa Clara, please contact me for a personal, private, no obligation consultation. I have lived in two different parts of Santa Clara and am there frequently and truly appreciate this beautiful city. Best way to reach me initially is email, mary@popehandy.com (I get a LOT of spam / robo calls). We can arrange a time to talk by phone, and if we both want, can then arrange an in person meeting.
