The Santa Clara Women’s Club (old adobe house)
http://www.santaclarawomansclub.org/
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 continues to be impacted by the pandemic and heightened demand. What is key for home sellers is to price and prepare their home for sale according to today’s real estate market. This article contains the latest updated data and analysis. Here are a few points from the monthly single family housing market in the City of Santa Clara that you’ll find in more detail below:
- The October sale to list price ratio is a red hot 110.8% of asking.
- Sales remain high while available inventory is less than a third of what it was last year.
- The average home took only 14 days on market to sell.
Thinking of selling your Silicon Valley home in 2021? Follow the previous link to my article on how to effectively sell your property in these unique times. It’s a blazing hot seller’s market in most of the South Bay!
The Real Estate Market for the City of Santa Clara
March 2020 brought some major changes that are affecting the market. While we are seeing how some of those impacts have changed the market in recent month’s it will take a while to see the full picture. To read more about the Coronavirus impact on real estate sales, check my post on the topic.
At the start of the shutdown, 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, 2020. 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 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 an elevated market action, extremely low days on market, and continually shrinking inventory.
Data from my Real Estate 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
Last year, 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 has begun to open up and easing restrictions for realty sales, all that pent up demand has fired up the market!
This October was another busy month for Santa Clara’s housing market! Closed sales grew while pending sales dipped and available inventory plummeted below the month before, but pending sales held strong. Compared to last year, pending sales remain high, closed sales fell short, and active listings are only a drop in the bucket! The sales to list price ratio rose to 110.8% of asking. For a little perspective, this number usually rises through spring and cools off in late autumn, but in 2020 this ratio fell from a whopping 111.8% in March to a low of 100.3% by June. Homes are taking just 2 weeks to sell at an extremely quick 14 days on market.
High demand and low inventory are fueling a hot market in Santa Clara, which is experiencing another red hot spring market in 2021!
| Trends At a Glance | Oct 2021 | Previous Month | Year-over-Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median Price | $1,641,000 (-1.6%) | $1,668,500 | $1,475,000 (+11.3%) |
| Average Price | $1,685,120 (+1.6%) | $1,658,400 | $1,539,450 (+9.5%) |
| No. of Sales | 57 (+14.0%) | 50 | 60 (-5.0%) |
| Pending | 61 (-9.0%) | 67 | 58 (+5.2%) |
| Active | 15 (-42.3%) | 26 | 53 (-71.7%) |
| Sale vs. List Price | 110.8% (+0.6%) | 110.1% | 102.5% (+8.1%) |
| Days on Market | 14 (+16.1%) | 12 | 18 (-21.9%) |
| Days of Inventory | 8 (-47.6%) | 15 | 27 (-70.2%) |
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 – note how different they are! Zip codes 95054 and 95050 occasionally switch places. 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 charts above, it’s clear that 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 showing rising market action and it remains in a strong seller’s market. Still, this market is usually nowhere near as active as single family homes.
Condo Market Trends at a Glance from the RE Report
The Santa Clara condo and townhome market tends not to experience the same level of market heating as the housing market, nor as significant a cooling as the single family market. The sale price to list price ratio shot up to 104.2%, well above last month and last year, and time on market slowed to 27 days. Closed sales shrank while pending sales grew and active inventory held fairly stable month-over-month. Looking farther back, closed sales have fallen, pending sales are up, and active inventory is less than half of last year!
Since late last year, condos have had an unusually high level of active inventory, although it’s begun to decline again. For weary buyers, this market remains cooler than the housing market and could be a good opportunity. Overall, this is a hot 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 | Oct 2021 | Previous Month | Year-over-Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median Price | $850,000 (-14.6%) | $995,000 | $905,000 (-6.1%) |
| Average Price | $985,647 (-7.7%) | $1,067,770 | $926,495 (+6.4%) |
| No. of Sales | 29 (-32.6%) | 43 | 42 (-31.0%) |
| Pending | 47 (+27.0%) | 37 | 42 (+11.9%) |
| Active | 26 (-3.7%) | 27 | 63 (-58.7%) |
| Sale vs. List Price | 104.2% (+2.9%) | 101.2% | 100.8% (+3.3%) |
| Days on Market | 27 (+32.4%) | 20 | 27 (-0.6%) |
| Days of Inventory | 27 (+47.7%) | 18 | 45 (-40.2%) |
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 tighter spread here than for houses right now. Zip codes 95051 and 95050 are keeping relatively close together right now and on the decline while 95054 condos are seeing much higher list prices and climbing!
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.
