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Q2 Market Update – All Time High for Palo Alto!
In spite of being in the midst of a “Great Recession,” Palo Alto Real Estate has set a new high in median sales prices for both the 2nd quarter and June sales. Los Altos and Menlo Park are not far behind and are likely to set new records soon, as well. The local high tech economy is booming and housing is benefiting from the increased demand and limited inventory of homes to sell. Of course, a meltdown in the national and world markets would likely dampen buyers’ enthusiasm, but that is what it would likely take to turn around the current buying frenzy.
Bottom line: if you’re thinking of selling, now’s the time!
May 2010-2011 Median Home Sales
May Highlights:
- Los Altos median price jump over last year
- Palo Alto and Menlo Park remain strong
- Los Altos Hills continues to be soft, home on the market for over 100 days
See the charts below for May median sales price for the last ten years in your area. Average number of days on the market appear under the years.
May 2002 – 2011 Sales Snapshot
May 2011 Market Trends
The local real estate market is hot!
Inventories of homes for sale continued to decline in April & May while competition for the best properties in all price ranges increased fiercely. Over-bidding, all-cash offers, as-is terms, no contingencies, these were all commonplace terms in many of the sales over the past few months.
Local consumer confidence is still riding high, based on the success of our local companies, and in spite of the non-stop negative economic news both nationally and internationally. How long this can continue is anyone’s guess, but for the moment it’s certainly a “Seller’s Market”.
Q1 2011 Market Update
ShareIn Palo Alto, Los Altos and surrounding communities, the residential real estate market continued an upward trend. Even “the Hills” are bouncing back. Supply and demand continued to move back in favor of sellers with multiple offers common and prices rising.
SINGLE FAMILY HOMES
South and Mid-Peninsula Market Snapshot
? 2010 vs. 2011 ?
COMMENTARY
The economic recovery has certainly gained traction on the San Francisco Peninsula & Silicon Valley! On April 17th the San Jose Mercury News reported that the top 150 Silicon Valley companies are currently enjoying all-time record profits. A portion of those record profits will undoubtedly be spent on residential real estate. Therefore, we expect increasing demand and rising prices in the near term.
The trend of fewer homes coming to market and, therefore, lower inventory levels continued at the end of Q1. In Atherton through Mountain View inventory was down by 28% on average, while demand was up significantly. As a result, the number of multiple offers for listings continued to increase in these cities and over-bidding was common for fairly priced properties.
Hills Markets Showed Greatest Improvement
First quarter sales in Woodside, Portola Valley, and Los Altos Hills had a dramatic comeback after being in the doldrums since the dot-com collapse of 2001. Sales were up in these three hillside towns by an average of 72% from a year ago.
Consumer Confidence Up in the West, Bucking the National Trend
The economic recovery has certainly gained traction on the San Francisco Peninsula & Silicon Valley! The Conference Board reported a decline in March, “The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index®, which had increased in February, declined in March. The Index now stands at 63.4 (1985=100), down from 72.0 in February”, but broken down by region, consumer confidence in the Western U.S. was up significantly while confidence was down significantly in the eastern U.S.
