Introduction 

Welcome to Silicon Valley Properties, the premier website for information on buying and selling real estate in Cupertino, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, Mountain View, Campbell, West San Jose, Cambrian, Los Altos, Saratoga, Los Gatos, Willow Glen,  San Jose and the rest of the San Francisco Bay Area.

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 As a Realtor based in the Silicon Valley, my philosphy is to provide my clients as much objective information about a property they would like to buy or sell so that they can make an informed decision.  With buying a home most likely being the most important financial decision in your life, it is crucial that you obtain timely and accurate information so that you know that you are getting the best deal possible.

If you would like to personally ask me any questions or would like to set up an appointment to discuss your real estate options, please do not hesitate to use the contact form or call me anytime at 408.861.2440
 

The housing inventory in Santa Clara County has ended the year with 5,718 homes, townhouses and condos on the market.  This is down slightly from the peak inventory of 6,714 homes on 10/26/07. The available inventory breaksdown as 4,313 single family and 1,405 condos and townhomes on the market.  Here's how the inventory compares with previous years.

As you can see, this is the highest level of inventory in many years.  Even during the technology bust of 2000-2001, we did not see the housing inventory rise even close to current levels.  

 However, the Silicon Valley continues to be a tale of two markets as the vast majority of the inventory resides in areas with the lower median prices or higher end homes in lower performing school districts.  Higher end areas with "good schools" have continue to do well in this market with many properties in the $800,000-$2,000,000 price range still are getting sold in a week with multiple offers.  Here's what we are seeing with these markets.

The Good School Area Market Characteristics (API Score 850+)

The Lower Performing School Areas Market Characteristics

Looking at the data, one could come to to the following conclusions

Thus median priced single family homes in cities such as Cupertino and Sunnyvale are still doing very well with many homes still receiving multiple offers, going over asking price and selling in one week.  Issues with the sub-prime mortgage market has removed some buyers from the market but overall it is still very strong in these high scoring school areas.  Much of this can be attributed to the fact that the local economy is still very strong as companies such as Google, Cisco, Apple, HP and Ebay continue to increase earnings and create high paying jobs.  Those fortunate enough to have the skills to do those jobs are chasing homes in high performing school districts. 

At the end of the year there were 31 single family homes in the market in Cupertino in Sunnyvale there were 91 homes in the market. At its highest point of 2007, there were 81 homes for sale in Cupertino and 120 in Sunnyvale In contrast a city like Santa Clara where the schools are overall lower performing than Cupertino/Sunnyvale, there were 153 homes in the market.  Even in a city like Sunnyvale, we are seeing homes in the 94087 zip codes with its higher ranking schools doing much better than the 94086, 94085 & 94089 areas with its more modest school rankings. 

Areas outside of Cupertino, Saratoga, Los Altos, Los Gatos and parts of Sunnyvale is where most of the inventory is languishing in the Silicon Valley.  The tightening of the mortgage market has pushed out many first time home buyers and the increasing number of foreclosures/short sales in these areas has created a glut of inventory. While the lowering of interest rates in 2008 will help some of the buyers with good credit and thus create some demand, it will be an interesting to see how much rising rates on current mortgages will force more homeowners to sell their homes.   The good news is that unlike many other communities, their is relatively little new home construction in the valley that would result in mass liquidating of properties.

Overall, 2008 should continue to be a good year for home sellers with homes within the high performing school districts and great for buyers with 10% down payments and good credit.