Silicon Valley Real Estate Market Trend Report:

Santa Clara County (SCC): Prices Set New Highs, Again

Prices for both single-family, re-sale homes and condos set new all-time highs in February.
The median price for homes has been higher than the year before by double-digits nine months in a row. The average price was up by double-digits for the eighth month in a row.
The median price for homes rose 27.5% over last February to $1,380,000. The previous high was set in December.
This is also the 72nd month in a row the median price has been higher than the year before.
The average price for homes rose 25.4% to $1,663,540.
The median price for condos gained 24.1% to $831,500. Notably, the median price for condos has been higher than the year before every month since July of 2011!
The average price for condos was up 26.0% over last February.
Multiple offers continue to be the norm. The sales price to list price ratio, or what buyers are paying over what sellers are asking remains at triple digits: 112.4% for homes and 112.9% for condos.
The ratio has been over 100% for homes since March 2012 and for condos since April 2012.
Homes and condos are flying off the shelf. It is taking only seventeen days to sell a home, on average. Condos are taking eleven days.
All this is due to an incredible lack of inventory. Since January 2000, Santa Clara County has averaged 94 days of inventory. Last month it was twenty-seven.
Condos have averaged 87 days since 2000. Last month it was seventeen.
As of February 5th, there were 538 homes and 123 condos for sale in Santa Clara County.

February 2018 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

Deed vs. Title: What’s the Difference? (SCC & SMC)

By: Audrey Ference
Deed vs. title: What’s the difference? Most people use the terms interchangeably, but there’s a significant difference between the two— a distinction that’s important to understand when you’re ready to purchase a home. So let’s look at what distinguishes deed from title.

Deed vs. title: The difference between these 2 real estate terms “A deed is a legal document used to confirm or convey the ownership rights to a property,” explains Anne Rizzo of Title Source Title Clearance. “It must be a physical document signed by both the buyer and the seller.”

Title, however, is the legal way of saying you have ownership of the property. The title is not a document, but a concept that says you have the rights to use that property.

So when you buy a property, you will receive the deed, a document that proves you own it. That deed is an official document that says you have title to the real estate.

How to get the deed and take title of a property
To get the deed and “take title,” or legally own the property, your lender will perform a title search. This ensures that the seller has the legal right to transfer ownership of the property to you, and that there are no liens against it. If everything is clear, then at closing the seller will transfer the title to you, and you become the legal possessor of the property.

The title or escrow company will then ensure the deed is recorded with the county assessor’s office or courthouse, depending on where you live. You’ll generally get a notification a few weeks after closing that your deed has been recorded. If you don’t, check with the professional who did your closing and ensure that the paperwork has been filed. At that point, you have the deed and title to the real estate and the property is all yours.

What is title insurance?
Even with all of the due diligence a title company does before closing, there are rare instances when title problems can pop up later (e.g., missed liens and other legal issues that can be very costly to resolve). To protect against any financial loss, two types of title insurance exist: owner’s title insurance and lender’s title insurance.
“Unlike other types of insurance that protect the policyholder from events that may happen in the future, an owner’s title policy protects the buyer from events that have happened in the past,” says Rizzo. “That may jeopardize their financial interest, such as title defects from fraud or paperwork errors, unpaid liens against the property, or claims that someone else is the real, legal property owner.”
On the other hand, when you secure a mortgage, your lender or bank will require that you purchase lender’s title insurance to protect the lender’s investment in case any title problems arise. Lender’s title insurance essentially protects the lender’s interest in your property, which is typically until your mortgage is paid off.

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

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 Corne

S&P CORELOGIC CASE-SHILLER NATIONAL HOME PRICE INDEX SHOWS HOME PRICES END THE YEAR 6.3% HIGHER THAN 2016

NEW YORK, February 27, 2018 – S&P Dow Jones Indices 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 December 2017 shows that home prices continued their rise across the country over the last 12 months. More than 27 years of history for these data series is available, and can be accessed in full by going to https://goo.gl/26RfBp

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San Mateo County (SMC):  Prices Set New Highs, Again

Prices for both single-family, re-sale homes and condos set new all-time highs in February.
The median price for homes has been higher than the year before by double-digits six months in a row. The average price was up by double-digits for the fourth month in a row.
The median price for homes rose 19.1% over last February to $1,610,000. That is a $100,000 gain over the record high set in October.
This is also the 23nd month in a row the median price has been higher than the year before.
The average price for homes rose 24.9% to $2,024,690. This is the first time the average price has been over $2,000,000.
The median price for condos gained 23.3%. The average price for condos was up 27.8% over last February.
Multiple offers continue to be the norm. The sales price to list price ratio, or what buyers are paying over what sellers are asking remains in the triple digits: 112.2% for homes and 111.6% for condos.
The ratio has been over 100% for homes since April 2012 and for condos since June 2012.
Homes and condos are flying off the shelf. It is taking only twenty-one days to sell a home, on average. Condos are taking twelve days.
All this is due to an incredible lack of inventory. Since January 2003, San Mateo County has averaged 83 days of inventory. Last month it was thirty-one.
Condos have averaged 92 days since 2000. Last month it was twenty.
As of February 5th, there were 250 homes and 60 condos for sale in San Mateo County.

February 2018 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.