Willow Glen real estate market in San Jose

Published May 5, 2020 | By Mary Pope-Handy

Willow Glen is perhaps the most charming residential area of the city of San Jose with its old style architecture, tree lined streets and quaint downtown area on Lincoln Avenue and nearby. For folks working in downtown San Jose, the Willow Glen area (roughly the same as 95125 zip code, though a bit of 95124 is included also) is extremely convenient.

The Willow Glen real estate market for single family homes remains in a long-term seller’s market.

But things have certainly changed since the start of March. We should have a better view of the affect those changes are having on the Willow Glen real estate market this month, though not the complete picture. For an understanding of how Covid-19 is affecting the local real estate market, please check my post titled Coronavirus Impact on Real Estate Sales.

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.

1. Willow Glen Market Trends: Single Family Homes

Prices fell in April, sales dropped, active inventory grew. Homes have sold close to list price for a long time now and last month dipped to a still hot 103% of list price on average. Although all signs indicate cooling, this is still a strong seller’s market.

Here are the most recent housing sales statistics from the RE Report.

Click for the complete Willow Glen real estate report:

Trends At a Glance	Apr 2020	Previous Month	Year-over-Year
Median Price	$1,437,500 (-10.2%)	$1,600,000	$1,481,250 (-3.0%)
Average Price	$1,585,490 (-12.3%)	$1,807,940	$1,571,080 (+0.9%)
No. of Sales	30 (-23.1%)	39	52 (-42.3%)
Pending	36 (0.0%)	36	49 (-26.5%)
Active	55 (+48.6%)	37	75 (-26.7%)
Sale vs. List Price	103.0% (-1.2%)	104.2%	101.4% (+1.5%)
Days on Market	9 (-29.7%)	12	19 (-55.6%)
Days of Inventory	53 (+86.8%)	28	42 (+27.1%)

And last month:

Trends At a Glance	Mar 2020	Previous Month	Year-over-Year
Median Price	$1,600,000 (+11.0%)	$1,441,500	$1,590,000 (+0.6%)
Average Price	$1,807,940 (+20.7%)	$1,497,690	$1,640,430 (+10.2%)
No. of Sales	39 (+21.9%)	32	53 (-26.4%)
Pending	36 (-16.3%)	43	44 (-18.2%)
Active	37 (+2.8%)	36	61 (-39.3%)
Sale vs. List Price	104.2% (-2.4%)	106.8%	100.1% (+4.1%)
Days on Market	12 (-42.5%)	21	27 (-54.5%)
Days of Inventory	28 (-9.6%)	32	35 (-17.6%)

Data from Altos Research for Willow Glen – San Jose 95125

Below please find a market profile and then a couple of charts for the real estate market for houses and duet homes (attached single family homes – not duplexes), care of Altos Research, to which I have a subscription. Altos uses list prices, not sold prices. The data is automatically updated each week, so please bookmark this post and come back often!

Since the last update, Altos says Willow Glen is in a slight seller’s advantage with clear signs of cooling.

Charts for Willow Glen realty:

1 – Houses in the 95125 zip code – history, all price levels combined.

You can see the very clear peak at the start of 2018. Prices have since fallen, but not back to where they were at the start of 2017 or earlier. Early 2020 rose to levels that haven’t been seen since 2018, but it’s begun to turn back around.

2 – Houses in the San Jose, 95125 zip code, by price quartile over last 180 days

This chart looks much more flat, for good reason. Housing prices don’t usually change overnight, so they should look pretty flat. That said, the markets do show a hint of a warming trend as we move towards spring with the middle tiers showing some recent decline.

2. Willow Glen Market Trends: Condos and Townhomes

And next, of Willow Glen condos:

Willow Glen Condos – Trends at a Glance

With so few sales in the condo sector the data can sometimes swing dramatically. The days on market have risen and so has the sale price to list price ratio. Overall, there has been some warming and some cooling in the condo market for Willow Glen, but overall it’s remaining close to seasonal trends for the area. Condos in Willow Glen were in a milder seller’s market than the housing market this April.

Trends At a Glance	Apr 2020	Previous Month	Year-over-Year
Median Price	$875,000 (+34.8%)	$649,250	$901,500 (-2.9%)
Average Price	$877,500 (+17.4%)	$747,562	$892,500 (-1.7%)
No. of Sales	6 (-25.0%)	8	8 (-25.0%)
Pending	4 (-33.3%)	6	7 (-42.9%)
Active	9 (+125.0%)	4	14 (-35.7%)
Sale vs. List Price	101.3% (+2.0%)	99.3%	100.0% (+1.3%)
Days on Market	31 (+186.6%)	11	31 (+1.8%)
Days of Inventory	44 (+190.0%)	15	51 (-14.3%)

And the month prior:

Trends At a Glance	Mar 2020	Previous Month	Year-over-Year
Median Price	$649,250 (-21.3%)	$825,000	$857,500 (-24.3%)
Average Price	$747,562 (-9.4%)	$825,000	$839,688 (-11.0%)
No. of Sales	8 (+300.0%)	2	8 (0.0%)
Pending	6 (-33.3%)	9	9 (-33.3%)
Active	4 (-42.9%)	7	9 (-55.6%)
Sale vs. List Price	99.3% (+1.3%)	98.0%	99.2% (+0.1%)
Days on Market	11 (-90.3%)	113	21 (-49.1%)
Days of Inventory	15 (-84.7%)	98	34 (-55.6%)

Here is the Altos Research market profile for condominiums and townhouses in Willow Glen.

Here’s a bit of a surprise – the May 5th update shows a market that’s increasingly hot! Current sales are priced higher than before and market activity has been on the rise. We’ll have to wait and watch to see if the condo market in Willow Glen stays hot despite sever restrictions on real estate marketing.

Charts from Altos

1 – Condominiums and townhouses in Willow Glen, San Jose 95125 – all quartiles combined over the last few years for median list price:

Pricing has been at a high since around the start of 2018 but recently dropped below that for the first time at the tail end of 2019, so we’re currently seeing median pricing for condos that we haven’t seen since 2017.

2 – Condo and townhomes, median list price, by quartile, last 180 days only:

Like the greater Silicon Valley region, Willow Glen is comprised of many smaller micro-markets. It will be different in north Willow Glen, Palm Haven, The Willows, or in a walk-to-town area than it will be in the Dry Creek area or St. Francis Woods neighborhood – let alone differences for school districts, price point, zip code and home type! It’s a patchwork of all these smaller markets, in other words. What’s happening in one segment might be very different than in another. Disclaimers aside, overall it is still a seller’s market in Willow Glen. It’s not as crazy it was a few seasons ago, and we’ll have to check in early April to see how things have changed.

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