2011 Annual Market Report
The San Francisco Peninsula & Silicon Valley real estate markets continued their spectacular recovery in spite of a global recession. Technology and social networking companies from Mountain View to San Francisco are rapidly expanding – and hiring. The demand for housing in this area is now nearly as strong as it was during the dot-com boom of ’98-‘00. Median sales prices, on average, were up 4% from last year, and up by 13% in Atherton.
Palo Alto Continues to Defy Gravity
Palo Alto again had the most overbidding in 2011 with sellers receiving 103.6% of asking price, on average. It also had the most expensive real estate in the area with homes selling at an average of $723 per square foot. Increases in sales prices and over-bidding are likely to continue in 2012, unless there is some major national or international financial upheaval.
Hills Markets Now Recovering
During the past few years demand has been low in Los Altos Hills, Portola Valley, and Woodside. Yet, in 2011 those areas had the greatest increase in sales volume over the previous year of all the areas covered here. In fact, Woodside’s sales volume was up by 84%!
See charts below comparing the 2011 and 2010 for closed sales, new listings, average days on the market, median sales price and average percentage of list price received.
