Quick Market Summary: So we've witnessed a sort of spurt in the market, much like what has happened in the stock market since the end of last year. With March transactional information handy could we be seeing a pause or retracement? Well, time will tell but March technical indicators point to a flatening market from February. Historically, we tend to ramp up in the early months of the year with a peak near Memorial Day weekend or a bit before. So far it didn't happen in March. We'll keep an eye to see what comes of April technicals. As stated last month and because of the incredible "double ramp up" of prices in the latter part of 2017 and early 2018, we'll see year over year decreases for a while.
So for March results, we see that Santa Clara County median prices are 11.0% lower than in March 2018. In a twist, San Mateo County median prices have increased 4.8% from the same month a year ago. Median prices for Santa Clara County stood at $1,300,000 versus $1,460,000. In the context of looking at the past two years we've seen the median go from $1,138,000 in March 2017 to $1,300,000 or a two-year gain of 14.2% -- accelerating for now and not too bad. For San Mateo County the median was $1,758,000 versus $1,678,000 in the same month a year ago and showed a two-year increase of 26.0%!
Condo and townhouse median price in Santa Clara County reached $835,000 in March compared to $900,000 last year or a decrease of 7.2%. However, a look at a two-year window shows that the median price increased 19.1%.
March Nuts and Bolts: Inventory or the amount of homes available for purchase in Santa Clara County was 1,132 up from 625 or 81.1%. Sales (accepted offers) were 1,081 down 11.9% from the same month last year when is was 1,127.
For San Mateo County, inventory of single family residences stood at 368 versus 308 or an increase of 19.5% from March 2018. Sales (accepted offers) were 437 compared to 384 for the same month last year, an increase of 13.8%.
Sale price to list price ratio, a key market condition indicator, shows that for Santa Clara County transactions completed during March, this stood at 101.4% compared to last year's ratio of 112.7%.
52.9% of homes in Santa Clara County that closed escrow in March sold for more than list price compared to 83.4% last year and 70.6% in March 2017. It was 54% in San Mateo County versus 82% last year and 76% in March 2017.
The hottest market in Santa Clara County again belongs to the Cupertino/Sunnyvale market area with a median price of about $1.935 million) at 104.0% which means that the average closed sale has a sale price 4.0% higher than the list price! It also registered a median days on market of 10 which means half the inventory sells in just a bit over one week. The coolest is the South County market area (Morgan Hill, San Martin and Gilroy) with a median price of about $0.883 million) with 99.3%.
Days of unsold inventory and another key indicator which is the intersection of supply of available homes compared to the demand, moved up a bit and stands at 36.7 for Santa Clara County and 29 for San Mateo County. Both of these are higher than last year's figures of 17.8 and 28, respectively. This places both counties squarely in a seller's market condition since the level is below 40. San Mateo is in a balanced market condition overall since the level is between 40 and 80. Above 80 represents a buyer's market in most areas.
The hottest market in San Mateo County last month is the Bay Cities (Belmont, Burlingame, Millbrae, San Carlos, San Mateo) market area (median price of about $1.820 million) at 105.2% with a median days on market of 10. The coolest is the Expensive (Menlo Park, Atherton, Portola Valley, Hillsborough, Woodside) market area (median price of about $3.300 million) at 99.1% with median days on the market of 15.
As always, markets are always changing and the supply and demand in a particular area or even neighborhood can vary. If you would like specific market condition information for your area or neighborhood or a current home valuation, please feel free to call me, your RE/MAX Gold Agent! You are welcome to leave your comments or questions or contact me directly at my website. Check out and “like” my Facebook Business Page (over 775 have done so) or follow me on my Twitter Page.Thank you.
