Los Altos Housing Market – First Quarter 2010 Update
by Alex Wang on Apr 28, 2010 | No Comments »
(Main Street in downtown Los Altos)
Home buyers and sellers are quickly returning to Los Altos after a hesitant 2009 period. Los Altos is primarily a single-family home market as we can see in the first quarter of 2010 results, with 63 single-family homes and six condos sold. The average days on market was just about 60 days.
The median price of single-family homes sold in Los Altos this quarter was $1.47 million, which is slightly higher than the previous year’s first quarter results of $1.435 million.
The effects of the mortgage crisis in 2008 and late 2007 is more apparent when we see that only 32 single-family homes were sold in the first-quarter of 2009.
Los Altos has consistently held its home values, and even in a weak national market, home prices are beginning to rise as buyer confidence returns. Home sales were also strong through the traditionally slow winter months, and we are already seeing multiple offers on well priced homes again.
At the same time, the market has cooled compared to the excitement just a few years ago. For example, when I last did a housing market update for Los Altos in September 2007, and the market was around its peak, the median sales price was $1.78 million – 17 percent greater than today. Homebuyers are probably a bit relieved that today’s scale is more balanced between the Los Altos home buyers and sellers.
Recent government tax credits, historically low mortgage rates and the slight dip in local home prices are some of the reasons why homebuyers are trying to take advantage of this time and move into desirable neighborhoods like Los Altos. Besides the city being located in Silicon valley, there is an excellent school district and the homes are known for their larger lot sizes – ideal for families.
School performance, in particular, plays a large role in the stability and value of home prices in an area, and the Los Altos School District has some of the strongest scores on the Academic Performance Index (API) in California. In 2009, Covington Elementary scored 947 out of 1000, and Egan Junior High scored 954.
What sold for $1.47 million –
A 2,279 square foot, three-bedroom, two-and-a-half bath house sold for $1.47 million this past quarter. Built in 1962, the house sits on 10,450-square-foot lot.
The house is located on Kent Drive in the desirable Highlands area close to Cupertino schools. Inside there is a chef’s kitchen with a large granite island, and a formal dining room, family room and living room with a fireplace. Standard amenities and appliances were included.
Market Snapshot – April 28, 2010
There are currently 79 single-family homes and 9 townhomes and condos available. Out of the 79 single-family homes, tw0 dozen are new listings that have recently hit the market, indicating increasing inventory in Los Altos.
One home is short sale. 8 of these homes are new construction with a few ‘stubborn’ builders reluctant to negotiate early on and with the longest days on market for a listing being 393 days.
The Active continuous days-on-market (CDOM) for single-family homes in Los Altos is 58 days. If you throw out the two properties that have been on the market for more than 300 days, the Active CDOM number drops to 50 days. The average CDOM for properties that sold this year (once again throwing out listings that had a 200+ CDOM) is 35 days, which is a pretty good indicator for when owners should be seriously considering more latitude in their pricing.
How Much Home Can I Get for $1.35 Million?
Here’s a video of one of our current active listings on Lyell Street in North Los Altos.
Copyright (c) Alex Wang for the Silicon Valley Real Estate Blog, 1SiliconValley.com
Categories: Bay Area Real Estate, Los Altos, Market Updates, Neighborhoods
