March Silicon Valley Real Estate Market Comments

Here are my observations of the most recent February transactions for Santa Clara County real estate and San Mateo County real estate. Your comments and questions are always welcome. If you see something in your neighborhood that you are curious about or have a question, please don't hesitate to share with us. If you have questions or a comment, please leave them here, or feel free to contact me through my website.

> General Market Observations and Comments -- The amount of homes (single family and condos and townhouses) available for sale, after a short spurt, continue to languish at low levels and have actually turned back down! As buyers enter the market, they have fewer choices and we see many instances of multiple offer situations with sale prices much higher than list prices.

First Time Buyers - What to Buy a Home with a 3 1/2% Down Payment? -- You can! These FHA loans have current rates of 3.875% with no points! The downside -- they are increasing their mortgage insurance premiums next month.

For February, Santa Clara County's median price for single family residences, half above and half below or the middle transaction, increased to $530,000, up 1.9% from $520,200 in February 2011. San Mateo County's median price stood at $580,000, down 2.5% from $595,000 the same month a year ago.

For condos/townhouses, Santa Clara County's median price was $310,000 in February versus $295,000 the same month a year ago, representing a 5.1% increase. For San Mateo County, the median stood at $376,000, down 3.3% from $389,000 in February 2011.

Sales (my definition is closed transactions), increased in each county. For Santa Clara County, closings increased 35% for single family residences to 918 from 679 the same month a year ago and increased 32% for condos/townhouses to 413 from 313 in February 2011. In San Mateo County, closings increased 46% for single family residences to 370 from 252 in February 2011 and increased 44% for condos/townhouses to 117 from 81 in February 2011.




Thanks for reading my blog. I'm Tom McEvoy, Realtor with RE/MAX Santa Clara Valley -- Let me know your comments, questions, observations you may have or any future topics you'd like me to address.