Santa Clara County (SCC): Home Prices Retreat, Slightly
After five straight months of setting new highs, home prices fell in July. The median sales price fell 4.7% from June. Nevertheless, it was up 21.1% compared to last year. That’s the twenty-first month in a row the median sales price has been higher than the year before.
The average sales price for single-family, re-sale homes fell 5.0% from June. Yet, it was up 17.6% year-over-year.
The sales price to list price ratio went from 109.9% to 109.6%. Multiple offers continue to be the norm.
Sales of single-family, re-sale homes were up 10.6% year-over-year in July. There were 1,093 homes sold in Santa Clara County last month. The monthly average since 2000 is 987.
This was the eleventh month in a row that home sales were higher than the year before.
Pending sales were up 18.3% year-over-year.
Inventory of single-family, re-sale homes was down 12% compared to last year. That is the twenty-third month in a row inventory has been lower than the year before. As of August 5th, there were 768 homes for sale in Santa Clara County. The average since January 2000 is 2,703.
Days of Inventory, or how long it would take to sell all homes listed for sale at the current rate of sales, rose six days to 21 days compared to April. The average since 2003 is 89.
It took only thirteen days to sell a home last month. That is the time from when a home is listed for sale to when it goes into contract.
The median sales price for condos was up 8.7% from last July. The average sales price gained 7.1% year-over-year.
Condo sales were up 45.3% year-over-year. There were 507 condos sold in July.
The sales price to list price ratio went from 104.7% to 104.6%.
Condo inventory fell 26.6% compared to last July.
As of August 5th, there were 420 condos for sale in Santa Clara County. The average since January 2000 is 757.
Days of inventory rose five days to twenty-five.
It took an average of seventeen days to sell a condo last month.
If you are planning on selling your property, call me for a free comparative market analysis.
July 2021 Sales Statistics (SCC)
* Total inventory is active listings plus pending listings. Active listings do not include 
pending.
More information is available in our on-line report at http://avi.rereport.com/market_reports
VISIT http://avi.rereport.com/ for a free on-line market analysis of your property.
You can also perform your own personal search of properties for sale.
Fed In No Hurry (SCC & SMC)
July 30, 2021 — The Federal Reserve held its mid-summer meeting this week. No policy changes were expected, and none came to surprise the markets. The Fed did note that since December 2020, the economy has “made progress” toward the central bank’s goals of full employment and core inflation that averages 2% over time, but at the post-meeting press conference Fed Chair Powell said that there remains “some ground to cover” in regard to reaching these outcomes.
The Fed continues to expect that the significant outbreak of price pressure will prove transitory, simply stating that “Inflation has risen, largely reflecting transitory factors” in the statement that closed the meeting. At the press conference, Mr. Powell could not provide a sense of how long a transition to more benign inflation we might expect, noting that the Fed does “not currently have much confidence in the timing” of when inflationary pressures will subside.
The Fed’s bond buying programs help to improve liquidity in financial markets, and help to keep long-term interest rates lower than they might otherwise be. MBS purchases by themselves are probably helping mortgage rates to be perhaps an eighth of a percentage point or so lower than they would be absent this direct manipulation. Those lower mortgage rates have helped to fuel a very strong housing market that has been beset by shortages of home to buy and sharply rising costs.
These effects of course don’t happen in a vacuum. As we expected at the turn of the year, sales of new homes have settled back to trend after a fairly hot stretch to close 2020. Prices of new homes hit a record high a month ago, and with mortgage rates mostly steady, affordability has taken a bit of a hit. As well, much new construction takes place at distances farther from center cities, where most of the jobs are, and with companies now starting to call folks back from remote outposts and into offices, commuting distances may again be a greater consideration when contemplating a move to a new construction home.
In June, sales of new homes declined by 6.6%, falling to a 676,000 annualized rate of sale. May sales were revised down, too, to 724K, and the trend in sales has been generally softer since a December peak. Supplies of homes are not an issue in the new
construction market; presently, there are about 6.3 months of supply available, with the 353,000 actual units the highest figure since December 2008. If sales don’t pick up, it seems likely that home building will start to settle back a bit, although the fundamentals for housing remain solid. At least prices of new housing stock eased a bit, sliding about 5% from May’s record high to $361,800 in June. Retreating lumber prices probably helped a bit here.
Existing home sales have been beset by inventory issues for an extended period of time. There is plenty of demand but supply continues to only come onto the market at a metered pace, keeping sales from rising. In turn, this limited supply has sparked strong increases in the costs of existing homes, and with mortgage rates no longer falling to help offset these increases, some buyers are no doubt retreating to the sidelines to await more favorable conditions. Reflecting this, the National Association of Realtors Pending Home Sales Index retreated by 1.% in June from May, and this indicator of contracts signed for the purchase of an existing home saw declines in 4 of the first 6 months of 2021. With the “spring homebuying season” fading in the rearview mirror, it seems unlikely that a new flare for purchases will come anytime soon, but steady demand should continue for a good while yet.
Applications for mortgage credit responded to the recent dip in mortgage rates, rising by 5.7% in the week ending July 23. The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that requests for purchase-money mortgages declined by 1.6% — the trend here pretty soggy for the past month — but requests for refinancing kicked 9.3% higher, a second strong bounce in the last three weeks. Mortgage rates are not only closer to record lows than not, but Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac dropping the “adverse market refinance fee” starting August 1 helps to pass lower costs to homeowners, too.
Call or email me if you have any questions.
For further details and a city-by-city breakdown statistics, go to http://avi.rereport.com/market_reports.
Real estate related Articles
| WSJ 7-27-20211 | Work-From-Anywhere Perks Give Silicon Valley a New Edge in Talent War By Katherine Bindley | |
| San Francisco Chronicle 7-26- 2021 |
| |
| WSJ 7-21- 2021 | The Shortage of Starter Homes Extends Beyond Major Cities By Julia Carpenter | |
| WOLF ST. 7-7-20211 | By Wolf Richter |
California homeowners interested in building accessory dwelling units on their property just caught a break, potentially shaving off thousands of dollars in fees and permits.
In a move proponents say will help ease the Bay Area’s housing crisis, Gov. Jerry Brown on Tuesday signed Senate Bill 1069, making the so-called “granny units” easier and less expensive to build throughout the state.
For more read California eases restrictions on ‘granny units’
and http://www.hcd.ca.gov/policy-research/AccessoryDwellingUnits.shtml
Helpful resource for home owners
Many new home owners or owners who consider remodeling or rebuilding their homes should take advantage of their county Tax Assessor web site. These web site and their respective city building departments web site typically have vest information regarding the process for applying for permits, the impact on their taxes and many other resources that home owners should be aware are available for them.
For the San Mateo County Tax Assessor office visit http://www.smcare.org/default.asp
For Santa Clara County Tax Assessor visit https://www.sccassessor.org/index.php
The Silicon Valley 150 Index Corner
The Silicon Valley’s Real estate market is a derivative of the local economy–it prospers and withers depending on how well the local innovation-based sector performs. The San Jose Mercury News tracks the performances of the largest 150 publicly traded companies headquartered in Silicon Valley through an index called the SV150, which may be found at www.mercurynews.com. Stocks are valued based on several criteria, but one of the more important criteria is a company’s future earnings. Therefore, I see the SV150 as a leading indicator for Silicon Valley’s real estate market.
Investors Corner
S&P CORELOGIC CASE-SHILLER INDEX REPORTS RECORD HIGH ANNUAL HOME PRICE GAIN OF 16.6% IN MAY
NEW YORK, JULY 27, 2021: S&P Dow Jones Indices (S&P DJI) today released the latest results for the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices, the leading measure of U.S. home prices. Data released today for May 2021 show that home prices continue to increase across the U.S. More than 27 years of history are available for the data series, and can be accessed in full by CLICK HEAR
U.S. Housing Markets Moving Into Rent Territory for First Time in Over 8 Years: Report
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San Mateo County (SMC): Home Sales Prices Retreat, Slightly
After two straight months of setting new highs, home sales prices fell in July. The median sales price fell 6.7% from June. Nevertheless, it was up 21.7% compared to last year. That’s the fourteenth month in a row the median sales price has been higher than the year before.
The average sales price for single-family, re-sale homes fell 1.1% from June. Yet, it was up 20.8% year-over-year.
The sales price to list price ratio fell to 109.6% from 110.3%.
Sales of single-family, re-sale homes in San Mateo County were up for the thirteenth month in a row, year-over-year, in July. They gained 2.1% year-over-year. There were 436 homes sold in San Mateo County last month. The average since 2000 is 398.
Inventory of single-family, re-sale homes was down 32.7% compared to last year. As of August 5th, there were 345 homes for sale in San Mateo County. The average since January 2000 is 1,287.
Days of Inventory, or the amount of time it would take to sell all homes for sale divided by how many homes have sold, rose to twenty-four days.
It took seventeen days, on average, to sell a home last month. That is the time from when a home is listed to when it goes into contract.
The median sales price for re-sale condos fell 1.2% year-over-year.
Year-over-year, the average sales price rose 8.4%.
Condo sales were up 7.8% year-over-year. There were 124 condos sold last month. The average since January 2003 is 122.
Inventory was down 36.3% year-over-year.
As of August 5th, there were 144 condos for sale in San Mateo County. The average since January 2003 is 350.
Days of inventory rose to thirty-five from twenty-four.
It took an average of twenty-four days to sell a condo last month.
If you are planning on selling your property, call me for a free comparative market analysis.
July 2021 Sales Statistics (SMC)
* Total inventory is active listings plus pending listings. Active listings do not include pending.
You can get more information at: http://avi.rereport.com/market_reports
Call or email me if you have any questions.
For further details and a city-by-city breakdown statistics, go to http://avi.rereport.com/market_reports.
