The Sunnyvale real estate market for single family homes heated up in September! It was a crazy strong seller’s market!
For townhouses and condominiums, it was also a strong market, but not to the same level. And prices were lower.
Sunnyvale real estate market trends and stats at a glance
PLEASE visit our ReReport page for data here, throughout Santa Clara County, and also for San Mateo and Santa Cruz Counties. The RE Report gets the data on listings which originate with MLS Listings. When agents enter listings from other MLS organizations, such as Bay East or CRMLS, it will show in the MLS but not syndicate to a feed (such as the one used by the RE Report or by us on our websites). We do have a few listings each moth which come from Bay East and others. That data is not included in the info below due to MLS data sharing rules.
(If you’re viewing this on a mobile phone, swipe horizontally to see the full chart if it goes off the screen.)
Home prices rose monthly and annually and the number of closed sales was HIGHER than the number of active listings. We don’t often see that! The number of closed and pending sales both rose strongly. Days on market were a super fast 11. This is a great market for sellers and a tough one for buyers.
The cost to buy a home in Saratoga varies by home type, school district (Saratoga has 4 of them!), size, and much more.
Quick answer to the question of the cost to buy a home in Saratoga today:
It may be possible to purchase a condominium in Saratoga for under a million dollars.
Townhomes in the Vineyards or Saratoga Parkside (both Moreland schools) will be the most affordable, possibly under $1 million in some cases, but more likely over that for some homes. Townhouses with Saratoga or Cupertino schools will run more, sometimes well over $2 million. The brand new townhomes off of Cox will be closer to $2 million or more (range was about $1.85 to about $2.7 million over the last year, as of this writing).
The median sale price of houses selling in this city over the last 120 days is about $4 million, and the average is about $4.4 million. The range is huge, though, as one home sold for $1,500,000 and another sold for $20,000,000.
But does the fact that the normal price is so high, or that there are luxury homes, view homes & estates in Saratoga make it out of reach for everyone?
Not entirely.
Although best known for its tony neighborhoods, there are opportunities to purchase in this highly sought after and well regarded city without spending a million dollars or more. Nothing in Silicon Valley is inexpensive, of course, and Saratoga is no exception, so the cost of housing here must be viewed in relation to the region as a whole. It is certainly possible to buy a home in Saratoga for under $1,000,000. Today we’ll look at the strategies for getting in at the smallest price possible.
Opportunity knocks! Right now Clair and I have a gorgeous condo listing at the Gatehouse about a block off of Big Basin Way and Saratoga Village. It’s a 2 bed, 2 bath upstairs unit with 1158 SF and an incredibly nice view of Saratoga Creek and the greenbelt. It’s offered at $950,000.
Where else can you get a lovely, spacious home with Saratoga schools for under $1 million?
Check out the virtual tour at GatehouseCondo.com, and please stop by our open house this Saturday, Feb 7, 2026, from 1 – 3 pm.
More and less expensive: school districts and location in Saratoga
Saratoga, like much of Santa Clara County’s cities and towns, has a fewl school districts. Several things drive home values, but a key driver is the school district. Areas where the local public schools have high API scores (all level of schools over 900 API) will command a premium – namely the area with the Saratoga or Cupertino schools. Looking for a more affordable part of this lovely city? Consider the section which is served by Campbell schools or the Campbell Union High School District (the northeastern part of town).
Even within the Saratoga or Cupertino school areas, there are tiers of pricing. Homes will be very highly valued if they are in close proximity of Saratoga Village (what some would call “walk to town”). Also well regarded are neighborhoods which are very close to schools, shops, parks, or anything attractive. The areas west of Highway 9 or Saratoga – Sunnyvale often sell for a bit more than those further from the hills too.
Something else to consider, especially in a market as tough as the current one, is choosing a home with a “location issue” such as being next to (or backing to) a busy road, too close to a shopping center or freeway, etc. There are often very good discounts to be enjoyed when buying a house adjacent to something not ideal. If you are not someone who spends a lot of time outside, this may be a great compromise for the budget minded home buyer, since often with double pane windows, it’s nearly impossible to tell indoors when the windows are closed.
Property type, size and condition in Saratoga
Condominiums and townhouses are often a great alternative for Silicon Valley home buyers who’d like to own, rather than rent, and enjoy the benefits of living in a wonderful community like Saratoga without either the maintenance or the cost of purchasing a house with a yard to look after.
Sometimes there are very tiny houses, or cottages, too. In 1996 I sold a 1-bedroom house that was all of about 800 square feet on 4th Street in Saratoga. Not surprisingly, it was later torn down and a brand new house was built in its place. (more…)
Why is inventory so low? As of today, October 26, 2023, there are 796 single family homes for sale in Santa Clara County (population appx 2 million people). A year ago it was about 1165 and the end of October. Where have all the listings gone? And when will it get better for home buyers? (You can check Santa Clara County inventory and other real estate stats on this blog.)
Why is inventory so low: historical perspective, how low IS it?
Here’s a look at our houses for sale from Jan 1999 to today. Please note that the MLS has a problem with its data sharing feeds, and if I pull this same info in a month, some of the numbers (not just this month) will likely change.
Inventory Averages:
Inventory Oct 1999 through October 2022 (only Octobers, 24 months) = 2640. Inventory was bloated during the Great Recession, so that’s not representative of “normal”.
If we consider just 2013 – Oct 2022 (10 Octobers), which I think is much more typical, the average inventory is 1403.5
The current inventory level is 57% of the last 10 years and 30% of the last 24 years (not including 2023 in the averages).
The lack of inventory is causing a lack of sales, layoffs in various real estate related industries, and pretty much economically challenging for Realtors, lenders, title and escrow people, inspectors, stagers, photographers, and anyone else involved in the buying and selling of homes.
We have a supply and demand imbalance, with demand outpacing supply but available homes for sale low.
Why is inventory so low? What is causing the shortage?
Next, let’s consider the root causes of the problem, and which ones may not be ongoing. (more…)
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!
Buying a home in Silicon Valley is seldom easy, but right now, it’s nearly impossible with Santa Clara County’s critically low housing inventory. With slightly rising interest rates getting folks off the fence and strong job growth in the San Jose area – especially since Google announced its expansion in downtown, there are many more home buyers than home sellers. While this isn’t unusual, the severity of the problem certainly is extreme. How bad is it? Here’s a visual cue dating from January 2001 to March 2018 which indicates that this month’s inventory of single family homes for sale in Santa Clara County is the lowest we’ve had for March since 2001 (that’s as far back as I can get the data from MLS Listings). I’ve been selling homes for 25 years and have never seen it so dire.
This is sort of like “inventory limbo” – how low can you go? To me, this is uncharted territory for our region.
I am really wondering if other cities around the world have had this kind of inventory crisis in the past, and if so, what happened to pull them out of it. Obviously, we need more inventory, and that will mean either more new construction, incentives for current owners to sell, an easier way for people to commute long distances to work, or some combination of the three.
How does this impact you?
Many long time residents may recall that we have had a shortage for a few years here. In January 2012, I wrote about it here: Why is it so hard to buy Silicon Valley real estate right now? Compared to the recession that had just ended, inventory was low – I can look back now and think “wow, we had no right to complain! We had a lot more inventory then as we do now!” What also happened is that with the restricted inventory, home prices rose. A lot.
If you are a renter and want to be a home buyer, you now have two things going against you: rising interest rates and rising home prices (due to strong demand and critically low supply of homes to buy). If you wait a year, there’s a good chance that you will lose quite a lot of buying power as interest rates continue to go up and home prices do, too. Please check out my article on rates: How will rising interest rates impact your home buying power? Super low inventories tend to cause rapid price appreciation, and if you aren’t careful you could be priced out of the market (either because of home prices or because of those rising interest rates).
Normally, I’d be saying “take heart, buyers, inventory usually starts to rise after the SuperBowl” or “inventory rises after Valentine’s Day” or “we’ll see more homes coming on the market in March”. Well, it just hasn’t happened to any kind of significant degree.
If you are a seller, this is great news for you as it’s very likely that your equity will be increasing with the tight inventory. Buyer demand is good and interest rates are still very tolerable. It is hard if you want to sell and buy something else, but if you are down-sizing, you may be able to capitalize by purchasing all cash.
If you are a buyer, it’s important to realize that these days, most homes are selling with no contingencies of any kind (loan, appraisal, inspection). Purchasing a condo, townhome, or house is not for the faint of heart! Being not just pre-approved, but having an underwriter’s approval subject only to the ratified contract, a preliminary title report, and a satisfactory appraisal will put you into a better position. Cash is king, of course, so being able to absorb any appraisal shortfall is crucial. However, don’t let the all cash buyers scare you as some of them over estimate the value of cash. Most sellers will wait a few extra days if it means making more money on the sale.
In Silicon Valley, the housing market is again quite overheated.
Inventory is down.
Home sales are down (because inventory is down).
And home buyer morale is down in the wake of multiple offers, overbids and bidding wars.
Pricing are rising fast. Some folks are now getting priced out of the market and many are just giving up until things calm down. We have seen this before: a Déjà vu.
This is not happening uniformly across Santa Clara County, but is a general trend seen with the most popular properties. These tend to be the most affordable homes in areas close to high tech job centers (such as condos and townhouses in Sunnyvale, Palo Alto, etc.) as well as the least expensive single family homes in areas with good to great schools (think Union Schools area of San Jose’s Cambrian district, homes in west San Jose 95129 with Cupertino schools, plus of course the more expensive areas with outstanding public education too). In general, it’s a seller’s market.
As a frustrated home buyer, what can you do? Besides just throw more cash at the problem, and give away all of your rights?
One approach is to find the segments of the market which are not quite so hot. For instance, there are lovely townhomes and condominiums which are selling a little more slowly because they are on the expensive end of pricing for their zip code. Those properties may not sell so fast because many of the buyers in that range are going to push just a little more to get into a single family home instead.
Another idea is to find homes with fixable problems, defects, or issues. You cannot change location, but it may be possible to take a 3 bed, 1 bath home and add a second bathroom to it. Many houses with pools (where pricing is under $1 million) sell with less bids because of the pool – and it IS possible to remove a pool, often making a home more valuable to most home buyers. So target these homes and there may be less competition than the same house without a pool.
Finally, consider properties which have been on the market awhile. Many buyers won’t take a second look at a house that’s been on the market for 45 or 60 days, but that may be the gem you need. Most of the time, properties that languish on the market are simply overpriced. Sometimes there are odor issues or other things which may require more effort to remediate, but these problems may be an opportunity in disguise.
This is a question that arises from time to time: when homes are scarce, and inventory is critically low, how do real estate agents find inventory to show to home buyers here in Silicon Valley? Here’s a short list of how it’s done:
Show up at office and real estate board meetings and get the word out in person (“pitching” during “wants and needs” sections of the meeting, aka networking in person)
Emailing or phoning colleagues at other companies who may know of pocket listings (off MLS listings), another form of networking
Researching expired, cancelled or withdrawn listings
Looking on various online sites where off MLS listings may be advertised
Considering homes on the MLS which are under contract but not yet solid for “backup offers”
In some areas, lots of homes are sold “off market” or off the MLS. In those places, it’s important to reach out to the agents or offices which sell this way. There’s one off MLS group active in Palo Alto, too, which can be another resource.
Inventory is terribly small right now and we are hoping that the usual trends of rising numbers of homes for sale will kick in next month and that March will have plenty of available housing. Meanwhile, though, it’s slim pickings and agents and their home buyers need to be a little more creative.
Moving across the state, country, or globe always presents opportunities – but also challenges. What are the biggest hurdles for people moving to Silicon Valley?
The cost of housing is the # 1 challenge for newcomers to Silicon Valley
For most people, the hardest issue is the cost of housing in the San Francisco Bay Area. Whether buying or renting, it’s extremely costly here. Depending on where you’re coming from, it could be man, many times more expensive. Finding affordable housing is the # 1 challenge for people relocating to Silicon Valley.
How does it compare to other places? It is close to on par with New York City, about 50% more expensive than Austin, TX, and about 1/3 more than Chicago, IL. Check Sperling’s Cost of Living comparison to get a good sense of how it relates to your current home town.
San Jose housing inventory is critically low, and this is pushing real estate prices higher and higher. Home buyers are finding that not only do they get outbid on pricing in this market, they are also out maneuvered on terms as others dare to write purchase contracts with no contingencies of any kind or bring 100% cash to the closing table.
Today we’re going to consider the realty market trends for houses (inventory, pricing and market momentum) in the city of San Jose courtesy of Altos Research, to which I have a subscription, and using some other tools as well. This is helpful information for area home buyers or sellers to better understand the negotiating lay of the land. (For newcomers: San Jose represents a little more than half of Santa Clara County and is often reflective of how the rest of the county is doing.)
Let’s start with inventory. How many houses are for sale today in San Jose? Just turned to MLSListings.com and searched – as of right now, there are a measly 366 single family homes for sale in San Jose which are not under contract.
San Jose Housing Inventory the last 30 days
San Jose housing inventory for the last year
Now let’s look at the trends over the last three years – I marked each year’s peak with the green diamond to highlight the pattern.
San Jose inventory of houses for sale over the last 3 years
Often I get emails from people asking if I can help them with finding a rental property. For the most part, my practice revolves around listing and selling real estate in San Jose, Los Gatos, and Silicon Valley generally, so my best information is on what’s for sale, not what’s for rent. Once in awhile I work on rental housing, but not normally, as rental condos or houses through an agent (if they are listed on the MLS) will usually cost you more than homes you find to rent elsewhere.
The best resources I have found for locating rental properties in Santa Clara County are these (I cannot guarantee or warranty your results, but these are starting points for you):
Once you’ve located an area you like – drive around
possible – the MLS search – scroll down on left sidebar widget on this blog and pull down the menu under “all property types” and select Rentals OR run similar search by map on my popehandy.com site at this link ~ you must also find “property types” on left side and then locate rentals under that)
The last bullet point might seem silly, but some of the best apartments, townhomes etc. never get listed anywhere other than a sign in the yard. So if you love Los Gatos, Campbell, Santa Clara or anywhere else, drive it and watch for signs! (Or talk with friends or acquaintances in areas you like – have them keep an eye out for you.)
Perhaps you want to be in a hotel or inn for awhile before deciding where to rent or buy, or while on temporary assignment at a local business or university. You don’t need me to tell you where to stay in a hotel, but if you are moving here with a pet you might want assistance finding a place which will welcome your cat or dog. Here’s a great resource for finding pet-friendly hotels, motels and inns here: DogFriendly.com’s San Jose (and nearby) City Guide, which includes accommodations, parks, outdoor restaurants etc.
Right now, it seems to be the case that it’s harder to rent a home than to buy one – at least that is the word on the street. (And it seems that like with the purchase market, the closer you get to Palo Alto, the tougher it is.) Tougher still if you have pets or smoke. If you have pets or smoke and find a rental, the cost per month will be higher.
Helping nice folks to buy and sell homes in Silicon Valley
Mary Pope-Handy, Realtor ABR, CIPS, CRS, SRES
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?
Mary Pope-Handy, Realtor ABR, AHWD, CIPS, CRS, SRES Christie's International Real Estate Sereno DRE License #01153805 408-204-7673 mary@popehandy.com “Helping nice folks to buy and sell homes in Silicon Valley since 1993”
Clair Handy, Realtor, GREEN Christie's International Real Estate Sereno DRE License #02153633 408-721-6160 clairhandy@sereno.com “Helping nice folks to buy and sell homes in Silicon Valley”
This is the Valley of Heart's Delight blog , covering Silicon Valley real estate - Santa Clara County, San Jose, Los Gatos, Cupertino, and nearby communities in the South Bay Area and lower Peninsula. Find info on neighborhoods, disclosure issues, buyer and seller tips, and housing market conditions in the west valley and most of the county.Please also see my other websites and real estate market statistics site, which are listed in the sidebar, above.
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Mary Pope-Handy, Realtor ABR, CIPS, CRS, SRES Sereno DRE License #01153805 408-204-7673 mary@popehandy.com
“Helping nice folks to buy and sell homes in Silicon Valley since 1993”
The Sunnyvale real estate market for single family homes heated up in September! It was a crazy strong seller’s market!
