June 2011 newsletter

See how local real estate is doing now.

Now simplified and expanded, with plenty of charts for the analytical types and plain explanations for everyone else, and broadened geographically to cover recent real estate trends from Burlingame to the South Bay.  Find out what's hot and not in local real estate.

Still offering hand-crafted and carefully charted statistics you won't find anywhere else, now expanded to show recent trends for these eleven local sub-markets:

And now including seven leading indicators for the Silicon Valley housing market.

First, this month's summary:  Sometimes this market reminds me of 2005 or 2000, and other times it reminds me that many of us are still in a recession.  Brand-name neighborhoods, preferred housing types and investor favorites perform well, while everything else just bumps along.  (Although regular readers know that our version of bumping along would get pulled over for excessive speed in other parts of the country.)  Look for even the most booming markets to slow this summer, as vacation, discouragement and, lately, the stock market sideline buyers, although if it's a single-family home in a neighborhood everyone wants, "slow" only means "less booming". 

Next, a look at the month-over-month trend in sales prices per square foot:

Next, for historical context, a comparison of sales price per square foot between May 2006, 2010 and 2011:

Next, seven leading indicators for the Silicon Valley housing market.

indicator one-year trend short-term trend effect on real estate
San Mateo County unemployment down down good
Santa Clara County unemployment down down good
local business confidence up up good
Silicon Valley VC Index up up good
30-year fixed mortgage rate down down good
NASDAQ Composite up down bad
Bloomberg Silicon Valley index up down bad

And finally, a more in-depth look at what's hot and not in local real estate, using the month-over-month trend in real estate's two most reliable indicators:

mid-Peninsula top-end single-family residences (SFR):

hot or not?

13-month trend 1-month trend
suddenly hot again warming warming

mid-Peninsula midrange SFR:

hot or not?

13-month trend 1-month trend
hot mixed mixed

San Mateo and Burlingame upper midrange SFR:

hot or not?

13-month trend 1-month trend
hot warming warming

South Bay upper midrange SFR:

hot or not?

13-month trend 1-month trend
hot mixed cooling

San Mateo and Burlingame midrange SFR:

hot or not?

13-month trend 1-month trend
cool flat mixed

mid-Peninsula townhomes:

hot or not?

13-month trend 1-month trend
cool warming warming

mid-Peninsula condos:

hot or not?

13-month trend 1-month trend
cool mixed mixed

South Bay midrange SFR:

hot or not?

13-month trend 1-month trend
cool cooling mixed

South Bay condos and townhomes:

hot or not?

13-month trend 1-month trend
cool mixed mixed

mid-Peninsula affordable SFR:

hot or not?

13-month trend 1-month trend
hot mixed warming

South Bay affordable SFR:

hot or not?

13-month trend 1-month trend
cool mixed mixed

Local sub-markets:

Mid-Peninsula top-end SFR:  Homes 2001 sq.ft. or more in top-end Menlo Park, Palo Alto, Woodside and Portola Valley; Los Altos; Los Altos Hills; and Atherton.

Mid-Peninsula midrange SFR:  Homes 2000 sq.ft. or less in entry-level neighborhoods of Palo Alto and Menlo Park; all of Mountain View; and Redwood City and San Carlos west of El Camino.

San Mateo and Burlingame upper midrange SFR:  Homes in the Aragon, Baywood and San Mateo Park neighborhoods of San Mateo, plus Burlingame west of El Camino.

South Bay upper midrange SFR:  Homes in Cupertino, plus the neighborhoods of Sunnyvale, Saratoga, San Jose and Santa Clara with Cupertino schools.

San Mateo and Burlingame midrange SFR:  Homes in San Mateo neighborhoods west of El Camino (except Aragon, Baywood and San Mateo Park) and Burlingame neighborhoods east of El Camino.

Mid-Peninsula townhouses:  Two-plus level CID (Common Interest Development) 2000 sq.ft. or less in Los Altos, Menlo Park, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Redwood City, Redwood Shores and Sunnyvale.

Mid-Peninsula condos:  Single-level CID (Common Interest Development) 2000 sq.ft. or less in the same cities.

South Bay midrange SFR:  Homes in Campbell and adjacent San Jose neighborhoods (MLS Area 15) and the Cambrian area of San Jose (Area 14).

South Bay condos and townhomes:  Homes in Campbell and adjacent San Jose, Cambrian and Santa Clara.

Mid-Peninsula affordable SFR (Single-Family Residences):  Homes at least twenty years old in East Palo Alto east and west of 101; Menlo Park east of 101 (Belle Haven); Redwood City, San Carlos and Belmont east of El Camino; and San Mateo neighborhoods east of 101, plus MLS area 416 Bowie Estate west of 101 but east of El Camino.

South Bay affordable SFR:  Homes in Central (downtown) San Jose (MLS Area 9) except Rose Garden.

Methodology:  For sales price per square foot, a rolling three-month average to minimize statistically irrelevant differences from month to month yet capture the overall trend; then adjusted to the average size of the last 1000 homes sold to minimize distortions in sales price due to variations in average property size sold for each period.  For days on market, a rolling three-month average.  For absorption, the one month average.  All sales except short sales are included.

Thinking of buying or selling?  Please contact me at jfyten@cbnorcal.com.  This is not a solicitation if your home is listed with another broker.  My Department of Real Estate license number is 01044243.

copyright © John Fyten 2011         Site Map         Home