Quick Market Summary: From year over year decreases to year over year increases! That's what we find analyzing December transactions for both counties. Santa Clara County's December 2019 median price was $1,248,000, 7.5% increase since December 2018 when it was $1,161,000. Same in San Mateo County which saw an increase of 3.4% to $1,499,000 from $1,450,000.
Inventory (supply) plummeted in each county. Demand crossed oversupply last month and continues to be the case. This pattern puts upward pressure on prices and generally signals higher prices depending upon how long it lasts. Still, sellers need to be more aggressive as to list prices as the market is lower than the market peak which occurred back in Spring 2018. Buyers are still looking at low mortgage rates but with a decrease in inventory, there will be more competition when it comes time to submit an offer so buyers need to have all their ducks in a row!
December Nuts and Bolts: Inventory or the number of homes available for purchase in Santa Clara County was 393 (second lowest in the last 20 years!) down sharply from last year of 639 or 38.5%. Closes were 703 and were 13.4% higher from the same month last year when it was 620. This blows the theory oft spread by some agents and in the media who state that sales/closings are constrained by low inventory levels. They lose sight of another major variable in their research that of turnover.
Inventory (supply) plummeted in each county. Demand crossed oversupply last month and continues to be the case. This pattern puts upward pressure on prices and generally signals higher prices depending upon how long it lasts. Still, sellers need to be more aggressive as to list prices as the market is lower than the market peak which occurred back in Spring 2018. Buyers are still looking at low mortgage rates but with a decrease in inventory, there will be more competition when it comes time to submit an offer so buyers need to have all their ducks in a row!
Condo and townhouse median price in Santa Clara County settled at $766,000 in December compared to $775,000 last year or a decrease of 1.2%.
December Nuts and Bolts: Inventory or the number of homes available for purchase in Santa Clara County was 393 (second lowest in the last 20 years!) down sharply from last year of 639 or 38.5%. Closes were 703 and were 13.4% higher from the same month last year when it was 620. This blows the theory oft spread by some agents and in the media who state that sales/closings are constrained by low inventory levels. They lose sight of another major variable in their research that of turnover.
For San Mateo County, inventory of single-family residences stood at 190 versus 276 a decrease of 31.1% from December 2018. Closes were 279 compared to 241 for the same month last year, an increase of 15.8%.
Sale price to list price ratio, a key market condition indicator, shows that for Santa Clara County transactions completed during the month, this stood at 100.5% compared to last year's ratio of 100.2%. 43.7% of homes in Santa Clara County that closed escrow in December sold for more than list price compared to 41.9% last year and 75.3% in December 2017. For San Mateo County, the ratio was 102.3% versus 103.4% last year. The percent sold for more than list price was 51% versus 57% last year.
The following graphs of the Number of Active Listings (Inventory) of single-family residences for Santa Clara County and San Mateo County, respectively. Data are from MLSListings.com transactional information and covers the date range from January 2003 through December 2019. Please notice that for the past 6 years or so the trend has been generally lower.
The following graphs of the Number of Active Listings (Inventory) of single-family residences for Santa Clara County and San Mateo County, respectively. Data are from MLSListings.com transactional information and covers the date range from January 2003 through December 2019. Please notice that for the past 6 years or so the trend has been generally lower.
The hottest market in Santa Clara County again was the Cupertino/Sunnyvale market area with a median price of about $2.002 million) at 103.6% which means that the average closed sale has a sale price 3.6% higher than the list price! It also registered median days on market of 18 which means half the inventory sold in 18 days! The coolest is the South County market area (Morgan Hill, San Martin, and Gilroy) with a median price of about $0.873 million) with 98.1% and median days on the market of 48.
Days of unsold inventory is another key indicator which is the intersection of supply of available homes compared to demand that is flat or slightly up and stands at 33.6 for Santa Clara County and 41 for San Mateo County. The current levels place both counties in a seller's market condition since their levels are below 40. I've seen some so-called experts or recent news articles state that we are in a "buyer's" market, this is clearly NOT the case. Again, sellers need to be careful about their list price and should err more on a lower level lest they get stuck on the market.
The hottest market in San Mateo County last month remains the North Cities (Brisbane, Colma, Daly City, Pacifica, San Bruno, South San Francisco) market area (median price of about $1.091 million) at 106.9% with median days on market of 24. The coolest is the Expensive (Menlo Park, Atherton, Portola Valley, Hillsborough, Woodside) market area (median price of about $3.068 million) at 97.5% with median days on the market of 33.
As always, markets are dynamic and the supply and demand in a particular area or even neighborhood can vary and it does so sometimes quickly. 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 770 have done so) or follow me on my Twitter Page. Thank you for your i
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