Silicon Valley's Market Continues Its Upward Pace

Some news from the trenches, as of the 2nd week of June:  
At the Los Gatos-Saratoga District Virtual Breakfast Meeting this week, C.A.R. President-elect Dave Walsh was upbeat because weekly market stats he has tracked show the market is continuing on an upward pace. Sellers are returning to the market and buyers are even bidding on homes.

Walsh's data for Santa Clara County shows sales since March have been increasing to an average of 200 a week. Sales dropped to a mere 99 the week after county Shelter-in-Place order was imposed. 

Walsh said, "Our REALTORS® are very good at pulling buyers and sellers together no matter what the situation is, even in a pandemic. Our market is recovering faster than any other market in the state. We all are fortunate to be in Silicon Valley."

Many areas are hot. South County has been "on fire" with its affordable, expansive housing. Walsh said a reason for this is people are gravitating to larger open areas, away from cramped units in cities.

Milpitas has been hot from the start, according to Walsh. Santa Clara, Central San Jose and Sunnyvale "have never retracted and have stayed unbelievably hot with a zero slowdown." Santa Clara had 13 sales last week; its 4-week average is 10 sales. Central San Jose had seven sales last week; its 4-week average is five sales. Comparing last week's sales to their 4-week averages, these cities have exploded: Sunnyvale 19 sales (avg. 7), Cupertino 13 sales (avg. 7), Los Gatos 10 sales (avg. 6), Saratoga 8 sales (avg. 3). Positive changes are seen in Willow Glen, which had 17 sales last week (avg. 7) and Mountain View, 9 sales (avg. 3).

Since Santa Clara County's March 16 Shelter-in-Place order, 2,369 properties have been put under contract. Of those properties, 1,968 were priced below $2 million, 122 were priced over $3-7 million, and six properties sold at over $7 million.

"This tells us there is a lot of confidence in our marketplace, confidence in our consumers that work and live in Silicon Valley, confidence in employers and their stock portfolios. I cannot emphasize it enough. Our market is hot, our market is strong. If you price it correctly, it will sell." Walsh told members.

Thank you for reading,

Francis

Silicon Valley real estate

Trends: Local prices and graphs.
A noteworthy local non-profit event:  Community Services Agency - in Mountain View

Renters Confidence Index - San Jose

Renters Confidence Index - see: San Jose

48% of renters are determined to buy a home within 5 years, in the San Jose region of California. However, more than 1/2 think it is not a good time now to buy, mainly because of prices. Still, 70% think that buying a home is the best long-term investment.

In particular, 56% of Millenials are determined to own a home, and about 75% of them are pretty confident that they will have the ability to afford a home in the future.  About the same number think it is the best long-term investment.

Source: Pulsenomics - Renter Confidence Dashboard - See: San Jose

Thank you for reading,
Francis

My Home Valuation tool
Detailed, local trends etc... 
Current mortgage rates   (pretty stable, and low.. )

Tiny Homes in the Bay Area?

I like to read about the progress of the "Tiny Homes" movement in the Bay Area.  It is such a fascinating concept to allow more people to have a home, even if it is a small one, since the alternative for many is often to have none at all.

There have been several newspaper articles written recently on the subject as the concept applies to the homeless population of San Jose.  This is a movement that tries to mitigate the scarcity of land in this part of the Country and allow more people to have a home, albeit a small one, instead of living on the streets.

The latest articles I read were in the San Jose Mercury News by Barbara Marshman, recounting the back and forth in the movement at the level of the San Jose City Council.  Many forces at are work here, among them a concern and push back from local residents, afraid of the proximity of new neighbors living in this kind of housing arrangement, but also a quest to find a solution to the homeless situation in the County.  A follow up article on 12/13/17 by Ramona Giwargis reports that the City Council voted 9-2 to build one tiny home village of 40 units.
Another push back is from people advocating that faster results can be had for the benefit of homeless residents, with the money allocated to the project, in the form of a program to lease existing apartments (to house some of the homeless people).

Even if it is not for the homeless population, Tiny Homes can be such an attractive concept for reducing one's carbon footprint and simplifying one's life, or for vacationing.  I believe there is a lot of future for this concept in an environment like the Bay Area where there is so little land to build new housing.  With some zoning changes, I can see that whole developments could be built for tiny homes: cheaper homes to buy, with smaller land, allowing home ownership to a whole range of population currently coping with the cost of housing, with the possibility to create interesting forms of new residential neighborhood arrangements.  It is very easy to imagine that smaller homes can present various advantages to several subsets of the population.

More information can be found on several web sites, among which: Tumbleweed Tiny Houses, Architecture Art Design, and for the Bay Area, Delta Bay Tiny Houses, claiming to be the only Tiny House Community in Northern California.

Thankyou for reading.
Francis

Silicon Valley real estate specialist
Price your property
Detailed, local trends etc...
Current mortgage rates

Bay Area Real Estate Continues to Demand Top-Dollar

Market Watch | Bay Area Real Estate Continues to Demand Top-Dollar

November 13, 2017    Coldwell Banker  Market News  by Marketing Department

In September, the Bay Area maintained its position as California’s most in-demand region for real estate. According to the September California Association of REALTORS^® report, six of nine Bay Area counties had less than three months’ supply of inventory, and of the six – two had less than a two months’ supply. The report indicated that San Mateo took the No. 1 spot with the highest price per square foot at $883/sq. ft., followed by San Francisco ($875/sq. ft.), and Santa Clara ($687/sq. ft.). Read more about what’s happening from our Silicon Valley offices.

SF Peninsula – Half Moon Bay reported an all-time low in inventory supply. Although this makes the housing market tough for prospective buyers, many were still encouraged by low interest rates. Palo Alto downtown also saw low inventory that led to multiple offers on most, if not all properties.
Redwood City experienced a healthy demand and saw many sales exceeding asking prices. One instance was an uninhabitable house in southern San Francisco that listed for $550,000 and received 29 offers, selling well above the listing price. The luxury market remained active, although properties did not move as quickly.
San Mateo saw an increase in both inventory and prices. The luxury market was active, but slower with properties priced above $2.5 million. 

Silicon Valley 
Cupertino saw an active market, at times with more pending sales than active listings.  Buyers are encouraged to start house hunting as Silicon Valley is a uniquely strong region with exceptional demand. The luxury market remains active with several sales exceeding $6 million.
Gilroy and Morgan Hill saw low inventory and over 65 percent of the 54 available homes sold for over $1 million. Entry-level homes can be challenging to find, although the average list price of Gilroy is slightly lower. Overall, the area remains a sellers’ market with multiple offers and homes selling for above asking.
Los Altos experienced a continued sellers’ market with low inventory and multiple offers on most listings. The average days-on-market remained low, ranging from 13 days in Sunnyvale to 35 in Los Altos Hills. Sellers need to ensure their homes are priced and primed for a competitive sale. And buyers must be prepared with financing and a knowledgeable, trusted agent to represent their best interests. Buyers must also be aggressive as the market is highly competitive and sellers are more responsive to solid offers. The luxury market priced above
$4.5 million in Los Altos is steady and flat. On average, time on market is 44 days. Inventory is steadily increasing and the number of sales in the high-end market is down slightly.
Los Gatos saw a sustained sellers’ market, and luxury activity remains strong and active.
San Jose saw inventory at a record low. That coupled with low interest rates has created an increasingly competitive market for buyers. Even with the strong demand, sellers are encouraged to price their home competitively – at or slightly below market price – to avoid pushback from buyers. Because of the current competitive landscape, buyers should be ready to make an offer quickly because hesitation may cost them a great opportunity.
Saratoga saw multiple offers on most of its listings and a continued sellers’ market.  Buyers who are ready to make a move should have all financing in order. The high-end luxury market experienced an increase in listings with 24 properties for sale in September, a 9.1 percent increase from August 2017, and a 71.4 percent increase from September 2016.

Any questions about your real estate situation? Let me know!
Thanks for reading!

Francis Rolland

Your Home Value?

Trends: Local prices and graphs.

Bay Area home prices leveling off.

Prices in the Bay Area at large are leveling off.

Not everywhere, and not all in the same manner.  But DataQuick, the La Jolla-based real estate information services firm, said the median sale price for new and existing homes in the region in July stayed at a 3-month plateau at $617,000.  That was down .2 % from June's median price but up 9.8 % from the $562,000 median in July 2013. 

Complete information along the Peninsula can be found in this Coldwell Banker article, with the following remarks with regards to the area close to Los Altos and Palo Alto, and referred to as "Silicon Valley" (always more competitive):


...... Silicon Valley – The market is a bit spotty, according to our Cupertino manager. The demand for

great houses with Cupertino schools is as high as ever, but certain segments seem to have cooled off. It’s August, after all! Our Los Altos manager reports that there is lower inventory currently in most of the local cities, which is basically seasonal. But the stagers are booked out the whole month of September, so that means some new inventory hopefully. Downtown Mountain View houses often sell within one week. The condos are still getting strong activity with multiples either the next week or following. Palo Alto still has low inventory, but if the house is priced too high, it doesn’t sell. The best sections of town still lack inventory and there are buyers lined up for each one. Last week a house in old Palo Alto sold for more than 1M over list ($6,700,000) with multiple offers. Los Altos Hills with Palo Alto schools attract many buyers and multiple offers. North Los Altos is still in huge demand as is most of the city and Mountain View west of El Camino. Sunnyvale is still occasionally seeing a new all-time high. In Los Gatos, inventory is tightening up even more as school heads back into session. San Jose-Almaden agents are not seeing as many multiple offers in Blossom Valley and Santa Teresa but they are in Almaden and Cambrian. One listing in Cambrian had 20 offers. Our San Jose Main office manager said the local market is seeing another drop in inventory, while buyer demand has pulled back as well. Open houses are well attending with some open houses having 40 groups each day on the opening weekends. Multiple offers are still prevalent, but the sheer number of offers has seemed to decrease. All signs indicate that we will have a strong fall. The local Willow Glen listing inventory remains consistent where it has been the last month. Agents are waiting to see if the post Labor Day weekend will bring a surge of new listings for the fall selling season. With tight inventory and strong buyer demand agents there have seen heavy open house traffic. With this increased demand agents starting to see the pre-emptive offers, multiple offers and aggressive offers way over asking price. The market is getting hot again in Willow Glen. ...

thank you for reading!
Francis


Francis
Silicon Valley real estate specialist
Detailed, local trends etc...
Current mortgage rates

non-profit organization worth noting: Partners for New Generations - now called:
Mentor Tutor Connection.

New to the Silicon Valley? This blog's for you!

FUN FACTS

- Silicon Valley has the nation’s second highest concentration of wealthy people, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
- Money Magazine named Cupertino one of the nation’s best places to live in 2012.
- Forbes ranked San Jose No. 6 on its 2011 list of “America’s Safest Cities”.
- The name “Silicon Valley” originally referred to the region’s large number of silicon chip innovators and manufacturers, but eventually applied to all of the tech companies in the area.
- The “mouse” was invented in Silicon Valley in 1963.

See more at: The CaliforniaHome Blog

Francis
Silicon Valley real estate specialist
Detailed, local trends etc...
Current mortgage rates

Rents are up 5% nationwide

Taken from a Trulia article:

Rents Continue To Climb, Rising Nationally 5.0 Percent Year-Over-Year

Asking rents rose over the past year in almost all large metro areas included in the Trulia Rent Monitor. In the largest metros, rents rose 6.2 percent in New York and 6.1 percent in Chicago, but only 0.6 percent in Los Angeles. Rents rose strongly in Miami (12.1 percent) and Denver (9.9 percent), which also experienced large asking price increases. Meanwhile, rental affordability declined in places where rents rose while prices fell, most notably in San Francisco (rents up 11.1 percent), Seattle (9.7 percent), San_Jose (9.4 percent) and Boston (9.2 percent).

On the ground I find that there is a complete penury of rentals in the area centered around Palo Alto, and that rents have gone up in the Silicon Valley by a lot more than 10% in some cases.  It is good to check with your Realtor on the latest values if you are thinking of renting out your property for a while.
I often advise to also check Craigslist's listings.

Francis Rolland

Silicon Valley Real Estate

Local market trends

Francis - on Trulia

Current Mortgage rates