March Silicon Valley Real Estate Market Update

Quick Market Summary: The real estate market is hot and getting hotter! Yes, you read that right. Year over year comparisons reveal that in Santa Clara County the median price jumped to $1,388,000 up 26.2% and in San Mateo County increased even more steeply at $1,740,000 up 28.9% from last year. So we're still in this hot streak. Still, that doesn't mean every single home went up that much as the median price is the middle price of those that sold. It's more accurate to use median prices as an indicator of the overall trend. Supply and demand -- low inventory or supply coupled with high demand means higher prices. Again, basic economic theory -- low inventory mixed with high buyer demand. The Santa Clara County median price for condos/townhouses is $840,000, up 21.7% from the same month last year. In Santa Clara County 83% of homes that closed escrow sold for more than list price inferring multiple offers and a record for this time of year. It was 79% in San Mateo County. 

Nuts and Bolts: Inventory or the amount of homes available for purchase in Santa Clara County was 615 down 17% from last year at this time. Sales (accepted offers) were 945 up from 938 or 0.7% from the same month last year. You'd think that sales would be down as much as inventory if you believe what some agents say that sales are limited by the low inventory. They forget that there is another variable to consider -- turnover. A faster market or one with a shorter number of days on market easily cancels or mitigates a lower level of inventory. Think the turnover in the fruit and vegetable portion of the market versus the turnover for packaged goods. Median days on market has dropped to just 9 -- lowest ever! This means that it takes just over a week to sell half of the available homes!

For San Mateo County, inventory of single family residences stood at 264 in February, up 10.9% from last year. Sales (accepted offers) were 358, up 11.2% from February 2017. For both counties, the inventory continues to lag far below the historical average for this time of the year placing pressure on buyers as evidenced in the predominance of multiple offer situations and heated competition between buyers trying to enter the market.

Sale price to list price ratio, an important key market condition indicator, shows that for Santa Clara County transactions completed during February this ratio stood at 112.1% and the highest ever eclipsing the previous all time high of 110.0% reached in the heady days of the “Dot-com” period in 2000. Last year at this time it stood at 104.4%.

Take a look at the chart below from MLSListings.com which shows the Santa Clara County sales price to list price ratio trend since 2001. Any value above 100% is an average that is above list price and infers multiple offers.

The hottest market in Santa Clara County belongs to the Cupertino/Sunnyvale market area (median price of about $2.23 million) at 117.6% which means that the average closed sale has a sale price 17.6% higher than the list price! It also registered a low median days on market at just 15 which means half the inventory sells in just 15 days! The coolest is the Los Gatos/Saratoga market area (median price of about $2.40 million) with 104.8% and 43 days of unsold inventory. Notice that the median price of Cupertino/Sunnyvale is closing in on Los Gatos/Saratoga!

Days of unsold inventory are at a record low of just 22.8 for Santa Clara County and 26 for San Mateo County. This means that for Santa Clara County that the entire inventory, if held static, would sell out in less than 23 days!

San Mateo County’s overall sale price to list price ratio stands at 111.8% with the highest ratio and hottest market area in the North (Brisbane, Colma, Daly City, Pacifica, San Bruno, South San Francisco) market area (median price of about $1.11 million) at 116.2% with a median days on market of 17. One advantage of this area is its proximity to San Francisco and a heck of a lot less expensive! The coolest is the Expensive (Menlo Park, Atherton, Portola Valley, Hillsborough and Woodside) market area, (median price of about $3.67 million). 

Take a look at the chart below from MLSListings.com which shows the San Mateo County sales price to list price ratio trend since 2001.

As always, market dynamics change and the supply and demand relationships can vary by area. 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 Remax 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 (have over 750 likes – help me to reach 1,000!) or follow me on my Twitter Page.Thank you.

Why you should choose me to sell your property

Some might have you believe that there are two types of sellers. Those that have to sell and those that want to sell. I believe that a seller need only to be informed and advised so they make the best decision possible for their situation.


This starts with employing what I call the Four "P's" of marketing: preparation, pricing, planning and process.


Proper preparation has to do with giving the best first impression possible given constraints of time, money and circumstances. I coach my clients that prospective buyers and their agents usually spend but a few minutes forming their opinions of your home so it's important to ask the following important questions quickly:

• is it competitively priced?





• does it have a clean/shows-well appearance?





• does it offer or add what I call "value" to the marketplace?

Since markets do change, being competitively priced is important because you need a buyer's agent phoning their client to say "we gotta see this one" and prospective buyers searching online for a new home to basically say the same thing! I consistently research market trends to develop the best marketing strategy to get your home sold in the quickest amount of time and for the most money.

For your home's appearance you need only put yourselves into a buyer's mindset to see where there can be improvements made and remember to not overlook the negative things! I advise you on the appropriate high-payback items to make your home market-ready and coach you that how you live in your home is not how you show it! Depending upon the situation, I may recommend differing levels of home staging from accessorizing (complimentary service to my clients) through partial or full staging using an accredited home staging professional I've worked with. I've built up an impressive array of trades people to refer my clients to for virtually anything you might want to do to maintain or market your home.

Think of "adding value" to the market as not just merely a reduction in price but features or benefits your home offers that "showcases" your home and differentiates it from others. For example, features would be remodeled kitchen/bath. Benefits would be better schools and community offerings. I ask questions to quickly learn of other features and benefits not apparent to a quick glance or tour. When advising clients to make changes, I'm careful to work within their budget and/or time constraints. I look for high-payback items designed to increase your net -- otherwise, why do them.

Proper planning and an effective process are the only ways to assure you get the most out of marketing your home -- that is, the highest net (or what I call "walkaway capital") that the market has to offer. I advise my clients how to balance time and money to accomplish their chief goals of obtaining the highest net within the least amount of time and do so smoothly. To that end, I advise you to begin any negotiating from a position of strength rather than a position of weakness as so many sellers do. The structure of this advice is held in a customized, comprehensive marketing plan and strategy that are crucial to the successful outcome of your sale.


The main marketing elements of my plan are the use of: traditional and new-technology based online approaches.

To learn more about me, please click the My Background link under my photo in the right column.

I was awarded the designation Seniors Real Estate Specialist (SRES) because of my experience and education in dealing with seniors as their transactions tend to be more complicated due to their large equity positions and tax exposure. I advise my clients to obtain the legal, tax, loan, financial planning input before making a decision to sell as it may be in their best interests NOT to sell. If they don't have a trusted expert in these areas, I refer them to a professional. The only compensation I receive for these and other professional or trade referrals is the satisfaction that I've helped someone seek to be better informed and ultimately make a better decision for themselves.

Please give me a call at 408-830-0092 to include me when you're ready to interview agents or just to meet and get to know each other better. If you have questions or feedback, feel free to leave me a comment.

Thanks for reading!