A rise in single-family homes for sale is giving a boost to the spring home-buying season in Silicon Valley, which has been struggling with very low inventory. The region's housing market also saw increased closed sales, more total dollars sold, and shorter days on market in April, according to MLSListings Inc.
With the exception of San Mateo County, which reported a 3 percent dip in inventory of single-family homes, the MLSListings real estate update for April 2015 reported month-over-month gains in inventory in the five-county area the MLS serves. Santa Clara County saw a gain of 9 percent, Santa Cruz County, 12 percent, Monterey County, 17 percent, and San Benito County, 8 percent.
Compared with April 2014, both San Mateo and Santa Clara counties saw huge jumps in their inventory of single-family homes. San Mateo County's inventory jumped 34 percent and Santa Clara County saw an increase of 44 percent.
Median home prices in Silicon Valley continue to be high compared to the rest of the state, but appear to be leveling. Santa Clara County's April 2015 median of $965,500 was up 3 percent from the March median of $939,000, the highest of all reported counties, according to the MLS. A year ago, the median price for a single-family home was at $906,250. San Mateo County's median essentially remained unchanged at $1,285,000 from March, but was 25 percent higher than a year ago.
Both Santa Clara and San Mateo counties saw month-over-month increases in single-family home sales. In Santa Clara County, April single-family homes sales were up 31 percent from March, while San Mateo County saw sales increase 24 percent. Year-over-year sales were up 13 in Santa Clara County and dipped 1 percent in San Mateo County.
According to the California Association of REALTORS®, the state's housing market also took off to a strong start in April with both higher home sales and prices for the third straight month. California home sales rose above the 400,000 mark in April for the first time since October 2013 to post the highest level since August 2013, totaling 427,620 closed escrow sales of existing, single-family detached homes in April.
The median price of an existing, single-family detached California home rose 2.8 percent from $468,550 in March to $481,760 in April, the highest level since November 2007. April's median price was 7.4 percent higher than the revised $448,720 recorded in April 2014.
"Both the local and state market data reports are encouraging and point to spring being a busy home buying season. The market environment continues to do well, thanks to solid job growth and record-low interest rates still in place," said Chris Isaacson, president of the Silicon Valley Association of REALTORS®. "In our region, many are still facing housing affordability issues due to an inadequate supply of homes unable to meet a pent-up housing demand."
The Silicon Valley Association of REALTORS® (SILVAR) is a professional trade organization representing over 4,000 REALTORS® and Affiliate members engaged in the real estate business on the Peninsula and in the South Bay. SILVAR promotes the highest ethical standards of real estate practice, serves as an advocate for homeownership and homeowners, and represents the interests of property owners in Silicon Valley.
The term "REALTOR®" is a registered collective membership mark which identifies a real estate professional who is a member of the National Association of REALTORS® and who subscribes to its strict Code of Ethics.
Variations of this article have appeared in local area newspapers.
For further information, please email or call the SILVAR office at (408) 200-0100.