Below please find real estate market reports for three Silicon Valley counties where I’m most active: Santa Clara County, San Mateo County, and Santa Cruz County. First we’ll provide the data for single family homes, then condos and townhomes, for each region. (“Silicon Valley” is 95% within Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties, plus a little of Santa Cruz County and a small part of Alameda County. Alameda County uses a different MLS system, and I don’t usually sell there, so am not covering it in my reports.)
Early Spring 2021: Three Silicon Valley Counties
Santa Clara County Real Estate Market Report for March 2021
First, Santa Clara County – home to San Jose, Cupertino, Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Los Altos, Santa Clara, Campbell, Los Gatos, Saratoga, Monte Sereno, Milpitas, Morgan Hill, and a number of other cities and towns. This area has generally come up in price about 10% since last year, though in March the median sale price is over 14% higher in 2021 than in 2020! Homes took about a week less time to sell in March compared to February, but compared to 2020 they’re taking about a half-week less to sell. Of course, it hasn’t been even growth. While 2020 had a seasonally hot winter, it experienced major changes with the pandemic putting pressure on the market stifling spring activity and creating a sustained high demand with severely low inventory. Typical seasonal trends around this time are cooler creating a softer market, but pent up activity is higher than usual driving both prices and the sales to list price ratio above the norm. Santa Clara County is heating up for a spring market without experiencing more than a hint of winter cooling earlier this year.
And the condominium and townhouse report for Santa Clara County:
This year shows about a 11% rise in median sales price for condos and townhomes since last year, and a clear rise in sales price, list price, and active inventory from last month.
San Mateo County Real Estate Market for March 2021
Next, San Mateo County – home to Menlo Park, Redwood Shores, San Mateo, Half Moon Bay, and other Peninsula Communities. This area is generally more expensive than Santa Clara County, with variation, of course – a general rule of thumb might be 20-25% more costly (In March that rose to around 24%). Comparing this county to Santa Clara County, San Mateo hasn’t been seeing the same demand, possibly due to the price tag, but with the spring market in full force it’s currently looking red hot! Prices continued to climb in March, rising roughly 13.7% from last year and around 4.7% from the month before. The days on market sped up and the sale to list price ratio grew, but both are a little calmer than the other single family housing markets.
The condo and townhome report for San Mateo County:
Since last month median sales prices have risen about 8%, although they’ve fallen about 11% since last year! This market saw clear cooling in the last quarter of 2020. March sales show that it continues to warm into 2021, but it’s definitely not as hot as it was a year ago.
Santa Cruz County Real Estate Market Report for March 2021
And lastly, coastal Santa Cruz County. While Santa Clara County and San Mateo County are part of the San Francisco Bay Area, and considered to be “Northern California”, Santa Cruz County is part of the Monterey Bay and is “Central California” or “Central Coast”. This region is less expensive that Santa Clara County, so is an attractive destination for retirees who don’t really want to move too far from home, but benefit from less expensive housing. Santa Cruz County includes the highly regarded University of California at Santa Cruz, exquisite beaches, and plenty of wineries – among more reasons to visit, if not make it your home!
Single Family Home (houses, duet homes – not duplexes) in Santa Cruz County:
Santa Cruz single family homes saw almost a 4% increase in median sale price since last month, but rose a whopping 18.9% compared to last year! This is a smaller market than the others, so larger swings in data can be expected. It may not be as hot as it’s northern neighbor, but Santa Cruz County homes are in a hot seller’s market!
The condominium and townhouse report for Santa Cruz County:
Again, this is a very small data set so the market report may show more dramatic change than the market actually has. Sale prices rose since last month and grew about 6.9% since last year. It’s a mild seller’s market that’s much more balanced than other areas despite severely low inventory!
Related reading:
Looking to buy or sell a home in any of these areas? Please reach out to me for an appointment to chat by phone. If it seems like a good fit, we can arrange to meet in person and strategize your home buying or selling – no cost, no obligation, no pressure.
