Local Housing: Quarterly Prices: a perspective...

Here is a graph that I update regularly for the Cities around here:
Quarterly prices of houses since 2007 in the Valley:

Although we have to be careful with any statistical figures, one can definitely see a trend for the Cities of Los Altos and Palo Alto.
The average price of homes in a given area can be influenced by several factors: just because the graph points upwards, it does not necessarily mean that prices are going up. Instead, you could have just a few large and very expensive homes raising the average in a tight market where few homes have sold.
Conversely, you could have a lot of entry-level houses sold and fewer more expensive ones, which would keep the average price low, even though you may have an actual up-market.

However, in this case these graphs confirm what we have been seeing in the past few months: a large demand, not satisfied by enough inventory, resulting in a sharp rise in housing prices.

Francis

Silicon Valley Real Estate

Local market trends

useful links

Community Services Agency - worthy of interest...

Good news: housing inventory is up..

After some grueling months in the trenches, (if you happen to be looking for a house to buy), seeing the number of homes available on the market dwindle to something not seen since 2005, we relish a breath of fresh air:  the number of houses and condominiums available for sale is finally coming up a bit, promising more balance in the market may be?  We'll see.

When the market is sharply up, people often think that it is "great" for Realtors. Not quite so, unless you strictly work for sellers. If buyers have too hard a time to purchase a property, it does not benefit the community as a whole. Hence the sigh of relief when the market is more balanced.

In the past month, and as of the 18th of May, we have seen the number of homes on the market for sale, in the whole County of Santa Clara, come up from about 1575 to 1720. (below is the average for a given month...).

At the same time, the percentage of houses (not condos) sold for more than listing price has gone up to 44.5%.  By the way, this statistic is available every Saturday in the San Jose Mercury News in the real estate section.

Thanks for reading!
Francis

Silicon Valley Real Estate

Local market trends

useful links

Current Mortgage rates