Silicon Valley Real Estate Market Trend Report:

Santa Clara County (SCC): Home Sales Prices Mixed

The median sales price for single-family, re-sale homes rose, month-over-month. It was up 4.4% from December. It was down 9.5% compared to last year.

The average sales price for single-family, re-sale homes was up 9.4%, month-over-month. It was down 5.1% year-over-year.

Sales of single-family, re-sale homes were down for the seventeenth month in a row, year-over-year, in January. Sales fell 38.9%. There were 262 homes sold in Santa Clara County last month. The monthly average since 2000 is 987.

The sales price to list price ratio rose from 98.7% to 98.9%.

Pending sales were down 4.3% year-over-year.

After being down, year-over-year, thirty months in a row, inventory of single-family, re-sale homes was up for the eleventh month in a row. It gained 59.6% compared to last year. As of February 5th, there were 533 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 from 36 days to 61 days. The average since 2003 is 89.

It took thirty-four 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 flat 9.4% compared to last January. The average sales price gained 0.9% year-over-year.

Condo sales were down 52.8% year-over-year. There were 110 condos sold in December.

The sales price to list price ratio rose from 99.2% to 99.4%.

Condo inventory was up 62.5% compared to last January.

As of February 5th, there were 247 condos for sale in Santa Clara County. The average since January 2000 is 757.

Days of inventory rose from thirty-nine to sixty-seven.

It took an average of thirty-three days to sell a condo last month.

If you are planning on selling your property, call me for a free comparative market analysis.

January 2023 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

A Lighter Fed Foot  (SCC & SMC)

Jan 27, 2023 —  In popular discussion, the economy is often likened to a car, with the Fed at the steering wheel, manipulating the accelerator and brake pedals to try to hold a steady speed. In such a line of thinking, the Fed stomped on the monetary-policy gas pedal in the wake of the pandemic closure of the U.S. (and global) economy, trying to keep the auto moving forward over a very rough patch of road. Having accomplished this, the vehicle came out of that difficult stretch at a speed far too fast to manage, and the Fed then turned to romping on the brakes repeatedly to try to return to a safe speed. As the vehicle has now slowed to something more manageable, the Fed has begin to ease up on the brake pedal, hoping to continue to slow things without having them come to a complete halt.

Which brings us to now, where most if not all of the high-octane fuel has been exhausted and the repeated application of brake or engine drag has had much of the desired effect. While a more gentle application of braking may yet come — that is, another, smaller increase or two in the federal funds rate — the car  is now nearly on a glide path toward wherever it may go, be that soft landing or hard.

Housing markets continue to be perhaps the biggest overall economic drag, but even here there is a bit of hope. Sales of new homes managed another small increase in December, rising by 2.3% to an annualized pace of 616,000 units. Believe it or not, and while still at low levels, sales of new homes have managed to put together a three-month string of increases. The small increase in sales trimmed the ratio of supply to sales to a flat 9.0 months, still a relatively bloated figure, with the 461,000 actual units available steady compared to November. Prices of new homes were a little lower last month (which probably helped the sales effort), and the median price tag of $442,100 for homes sold in December was 3.7% lower than November. For all of 2022, 644,000 newly-built homes were sold, down from 771,000 in 2021.

At least so far (and hopefully not again) mortgage rates double-topped at 7.08% in late October and early November. Since then, they’ve mostly been lower, falling by nearly a full percentage point. At least some potential homebuyers noticed, as there was a 2.5% increase in the December Pending Home Sales Index from the National Association of Realtors. This measure of signed contracts to buy existing homes is a harbinger of sales a month or two into the future, and should contracts make it to closings, we should see at least a slight pickup in sales of existing homes for January or February. Unfortunately, we’ll need to wait a minimum of a month and likely two before we’ll see the bump, but it’s good to know that potential homebuyers will respond even with mortgage rates in the sixes. Hopefully, rates will remain stable or perhaps even slightly lower as the spring homebuying season gets underway in just a few weeks’ time.

It also appears that at least some potential homebuyers and homeowners looking to refinance are still responding to lower rates in January, too. In the week ending January 20, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported a 7% increase in applications for mortgage credit, lifted by a 3.4% increase in purchase-money mortgage applications and a 14.6% rise in those to refinance existing mortgages. That’s two positives in a row for purchase applications and three for refinances; while these hardly change the fortunes of those in the home financing and related industries, they are a small but welcome respite from the gloom that housing markets have been for nearly a year now.

For further details and a city-by-city breakdown statistics, go to https://avi.rereport.com/market_reports.

Real estate related Articles

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 Decelerated In November

NEW YORK,JANUARY 31, 2023: 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 November 2022 show that home prices declined across the United States. More than 27 years of history are available for the data series and can be accessed in full by going toCLICK HERE

U.S. Housing Markets Moving Into Rent Territory for First Time in Over 8 Years: Report

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San Mateo County (SMC): Market Continues to Weaken

Sales of single-family, re-sale homes in San Mateo County fell for the seventeenth month in a row, year-over-year. They were down 28.8% in January. There were 126 homes sold in San Mateo County last month. The average since 2000 is 398.

The median sales price for single-family, re-sale homes was down 17.7% compared to last year.

The average sales price fell 12.9% year-over-year.

The sales price to list price ratio fell from 99% to 98.5%.

Inventory of single-family, re-sale homes was up 36.2% compared to last year. As of February 5th, there were 271 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 from thirty-seven to sixty-five days.

It took thirty-six 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 9.7% year-over-year.

Year-over-year, the average sales price fell 6.8%.

Condo sales were down 53.5% year-over-year. There were 40 condos sold last month. The average since January 2003 is 122.

Inventory was up 15.5% year-over-year.

As of February 5th, there were 119 condos for sale in San Mateo County. The average since January 2003 is 350.

Days of inventory rose from eighty-five to eighty-nine.

It took an average of forty-nine days to sell a condo last month.

If you are planning on selling your property, call me for a free comparative market analysis.

January 2023 Sales Statistics (SMC)

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.