Silicon Valley Real Estate Market Trend Report:

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

The median sales price for single-family, re-sale homes rose 22.3% compared to last year to set a new high of $1,815,500. That’s the twenty-eighth 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 was up 19.7% year-over-year. It also set a new high at $2,166,360.

The sales price to list price ratio jumped from 113.7% to 117.3%. Multiple offers continue to be the norm.

Sales of single-family, re-sale homes were down for the sixth month in a row, year-over-year, in February. Sales fell 18.4%. There were 476 homes sold in Santa Clara County last month. The monthly average since 2000 is 987.

Pending sales were up 20.9% year-over-year.

Inventory of single-family, re-sale homes was down 23.7% compared to last year. That is the thirtieth month in a row inventory has been lower than the year before. As of March 5th, there were 444 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 23 days to 25 days. The average since 2003 is 89.

It took only fourteen 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 15.5% compared to last February. It set a new high at $981,500. The average sales gained 14.7% year-over-year. It also set a new high at $1,070,140.

Condo sales were down 8.8/% year-over-year. There were 312 condos sold in February.

The sales price to list price ratio rose from 106.1% to 109.1%.

Condo inventory fell 45.9% compared to last February.

As of March 5th, there were 196 condos for sale in Santa Clara County. The average since January 2000 is 757.

Days of inventory fell three days to seventeen.

It took an average of sixteen days to sell a condo last month.

February 2022 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

Mortgage Rates Jump (SCC & SMC)

February 25, 2022 — The recent and sharp run-up in mortgage rates continues to dampen requests for mortgages. The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that mortgage applications declined by 13.1% in the week ending February 18; requests for purchase-money mortgage posted a 10.1% drop, and have been negative in four of the last five weeks. Applications for refinancing of existing mortgages have seen even more of a drop off, with the 15.6% decline in the latest week making it eight of the last nine weeks where homeowner activity has diminished.

As we mentioned last week, it’s a little too soon to tell how much impact rising mortgage rates have or will have on home sales. That said, some clues came out this week; Sales of newly-constructed homes declined by 4.5% in January, sliding to a 801,000 annual rate of sale (from an upwardly revised 839K rate in December). Sales of new homes began to pick up in the last half of 2021 as thin inventories of homes to buy in the existing home market is helping to create demand for new houses. Inventories of new homes for sale are fairly plentiful, with the 403,000 units ready to go representing a 6.1-month supply at the current rate of sale. That said, higher costs for new homes don’t make them a direct replacement for existing — the median price of a new home sold last month was $423,300 and up 13.4% from the same period in 2021 — and much new building takes place further away from center cities than not, adding various complexities to the decision to buy new.

Over in the existing-home market, the National Association of Realtors reported a 5.7% decline in signed contracts to buy during January. This was a third consecutive month where the Pending Home Sales Index declined; the indicator has retreated back to levels last seen in April 2021 and is 9.5% below the same measure last January. Contracts to buy that were signed in January probably don’t show up in sales figures until February or even March, but a three-month easing, even leaner inventory levels and now considerably higher mortgage rates in place may put a damper on the start of the traditional spring homebuying season this year.

It’s a very unsteady time for markets at the moment; a large stock selloff has been followed by a large rally at the end of the week. The yield on the ten-year Treasury has risen and fallen as much as 15 basis points each in the last four trading days, although it seems to have bounced off a 2% top a couple of times before returning to it. However, mortgages aren’t Treasuries and don’t generally receive the same kind of safe-haven buys that U.S. sovereign debt does, and this week’s small and unexpected decline in rates doesn’t look to be repeated next week, at least judging by where things stand after the markets closed on Friday.

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 Corner

S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Index Reports 18.8% Annual Home Price Gain For Calendar 2021

NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 22, 2022: 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 December 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 going to 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 Mixed, Sales Continue to Fall

The median sales price for single-family, re-sale homes rose 1.1% from January. It was up 5.5% 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 fell 13.6% from January. It was down 2.6% year-over-year.

The sales price to list price ratio rose to 115.5% from 110.1%.

After being higher, year-over-year, fourteen months in a row, sales of single-family, re-sale homes in San Mateo County fell for the sixth month in a row. They were down 26.5% in February. There were 172 homes sold in San Mateo County last month. The average since 2000 is 398.

Inventory of single-family, re-sale homes was down 30.8% compared to last year. As of March 5th, there were 222 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 thirty-five days.

It took twelve 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 rose 27.8% year-over-year to set a new high.

Year-over-year, the average sales price rose 28.2% and it also set a new high.

Condo sales were down 15.8% year-over-year. There were 85 condos sold last month. The average since January 2003 is 122.

Inventory was down 27% year-over-year.

As of March 5th, there were 100 condos for sale in San Mateo County. The average since January 2003 is 350.

Days of inventory stayed at thirty-two.

It took an average of twenty-two days to sell a condo last month.

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

February 2022 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.