Market Trends Category
South County Weekly Real Estate Update 2/17/12
We continue to see a very active real estate market in south Santa Clara County. I believe there has been a lot of pent up demand that is surfacing and sellers feel that they can’t wait any longer for the mythical upswing in values. Although the upswing is coming, it will be a very slow, methodical upswing – no annual double digits like we saw in the early 2000s.
In Morgan Hill, Gilroy and San Martin, we saw 41 new residential listings come onto MLS. Check out the table below to see what new properties came on the market.
Also last week in Morgan Hill, Gilroy and San Martin:
33 residential properties went under contract
17 residential properties closed escrow
Overall, the current standing in south county:
252 residential properties are Active on the market
324 residential properties are Pending under contract
If you would like to view any of the properties below or any other properties please call me at (408) 892-9015. I would be happy to make arrangements to show them to you.
NEW LISTING MORGAN HILL, GILROY & SAN MARTIN 2/10/12-2/17/12
South County Weekly Real Estate Update 2/10/12
Another busy real estate week in south Santa Clara County! The market is really starting to heat up in Morgan Hill, Gilroy and San Martin. And inventory is low. However 40 new residential listings came on the market to keep things moving along. Check out the table below to see what new properties came on the market.
Also this past week, forty-three residential listings went pending under contract and nine listings closed escrow.
If you would like to view any of the properties below or any other properties please call me at (408) 892-9015. I would be happy to make arrangements to show them to you.
NEW LISTINGS IN MORGAN HILL, GILROY & SAN MARTIN 2-3-12 THRU 2-10-12
South County Real Estate 2011 Year In Review
Wow! Another year come and gone. They seem to go faster with every year that passes.
Let’s take a look back at what the single family residence (SFR) real estate market did in the south Santa Clara County towns of Gilroy, Morgan Hill and San Martin. The following graphs include data from all three towns as a whole and only reflects the single family home properties.
First we’ll look at the NUMBER OF NEW SFR LISTINGS IN 2011 and then compare to the same data collected for the past 5 years. The number of new listings coming on the market in December was low, but not surprising for that time of year.
The next pair of graphs show the NUMBER OF CLOSED SFR LISTINGS IN 2011 and then compares it to 2007 – 2011. December 2011 produced a large jump in closed SFR listings in south county, even when compared to the previous five years.
The third pair of graphs show the MEDIAN DAYS ON MARKET FOR SFR LISTINGS DURING 2011 and compares it to 2007 – 2011. The median days to sell SFRs varied between the low 30s to high 70s this past year. This looks good compared to the peaks in 2007 and 2008.
And the last pair of graphs look at the MEDIAN SALE PRICE FOR SFR IN 2011 and compares it to 2007 – 2011. The median SFR sale price held pretty steady in south county for 2011. It has not altered too much during the past few years but is approximately 50% of the peak it reached during the real estate boom.
Click on any of the graphs for a larger view.
Number of New SFR Listings in South Santa Clara County in 2011
Number of New SFR Listings in South Santa Clara County 2007 - 2011
Number of Closed SFR in South Santa Clara County in 2011
Number of Closed SFR Sales in South Santa Clara County 2007 - 2011
Median Days On Market in 2011
Median Days on Market for 2007 - 2011
SFR Median Sale Price in South Santa Clara County 2011
SFR Medican Sale Price in South Santa Clara County 2007 - 2011
South County Real Estate Sales Charts
Looking back over the year of sales of single family residences in south Santa Clara County, what has sold and how does that compare to the number of homes currently for sale? What price ranges sell the most frequently in our real estate market?
First we’ll look at the Morgan Hill single family homes graphs. The first graph shows the number of single family homes for sale versus the number sold. The number for sale includes those homes that are active listings not under contract as well as those that are pending under contract.
Morgan Hill Homes For Sale vs. Sold
SFR Sales by Price Range in Morgan Hill
Gilroy Homes For Sale vs. Sold
SFR Sales in Gilroy by Price Range
San Martin Homes For Sale vs. Sold
SFR Sales in San Martin by Price Range
July Real Estate Statistics for South County
Gilroy, Morgan Hill and San Martin real estate statistics for last month are as follows:
SINGLE FAMILY HOMES:
New listings: Gilroy: 78, Morgan Hill: 55, San Martin: 5
Total listings: Gilroy: 281, Morgan Hill: 236, San Martin: 33
Pending listings: Gilroy: 163, Morgan Hill: 116, San Martin: 16
Closed listings: Gilroy: 38, Morgan Hill: 40, San Martin: 74
Ave. Days on Mkt: Gilroy: 92, Morgan Hill: 74, San Martin: 31
Median Sales $: Gilroy: $423,244, Morgan Hill: $651,813, San Martin: $594,666
CONDOS AND TOWNHOUSES:
New listings: Gilroy: 2, Morgan Hill: 11
Total listings: Gilroy: 8, Morgan Hill: 48
Pending listings: Gilroy: 10, Morgan Hill: 28
Closed listings: Gilroy: 1, Morgan Hill: 4
Ave. Days on Mkt: Gilroy: 39, Morgan Hill: 94
Median Sales $: Gilroy: $209,000, Morgan Hill: $272,500
Currently the percentage of distressed active listings to the total number of active single family home and condo/townhouse listings in all three towns is 41%. Distressed properties are those that are listed as short sales or REOs.
South County Real Estate Today 4/25/11
As of today, there are 169 active residential properties available in Morgan Hill, 142 active in Gilroy and 16 in San Martin. As for residential real estate listings that are pending under contract, Morgan Hill has 154, Gilroy has a whopping 214 and San Martin has 9. The explanation for the large number of pending properties is due to short sales. Short sales are anything but “short” in time frame and can take many months to finally close escrow.
The following graph shows the active and pending residential real estate sales for all of Santa Clara County over the past seven years:
South Santa Clara County Real Estate Inventory
I just got off the phone with a client in the market to purchase a home here in south Santa Clara County area of Morgan Hill, San Martin or Gilroy. He asked if the real estate inventory was low and if so, was this a normal occurrence for this time of year. Because a picture (or, in this case, a graph) is worth a thousand words, we’ll consider a graph that I put together showing inventory, sales and median list prices from January, 2008 to present.
Looking at the top blue line which represents real estate inventory (single family residences only), it appears that inventory has remained relatively stable for the past 18 months or so. The current number of active listings in the south county area is 539. Compare this to 416 in September, 2009. However in September, 2008 the number of active listings was 788 and in January, 2008 (the beginning of this graph) it was 724. Homes were languishing on the market in 2008 and sales were far and few between.
Homes under contract are represented by the maroon line. This line has steadily risen since January of 2008. As I mentioned many times in past posts, the number of pending short sales keeps this number high. It still is taking many months to close short sales and while waiting for short sale lender approval, the property shows as pending (i.e. under contract). Currently the listings under contract equal 299, in September, 2009 it was 326, in September, 2008 it was 200 and in January, 2008 it was only 56! Those were slooooow real estate days back then.
The final statistic to look at is the median real estate sales price for south Santa Clara County which is shown by the yellow line. Unsurprisingly, you can see quite a tumble in price – from $786,087 in January, 2008 to $429,900 currently. (Even the $789,087 is down from the $865,000 that it reached for a short while in June of 2006.)
So, all in all, I would say the market looks balanced and that real estate inventory is holding steady.
Pristine Morgan Hill Listing Sold In One Day
I put a beautiful new listing on the market last Thursday, March 25th. We received an offer for over the asking price of $859,000 the next evening, and had a ratified contract by Saturday. Whew! I haven’t seen a listing in that price range sell that quickly in a long time. It just reinforced what I had told my sellers, this is a GREAT time to put your home on the market! Inventory is extremely low right now and there are plenty of buyers out there looking and wanting to take advantage of the low interest rates and buyer tax incentives.
This is a five bedroom, three full bathroom home with 3176 square feet living area. The lot size is 12,196 square feet with the majority of the square footage in the backyard since this is a cul-de-sac lot. The home was built in 1988 and has many charming features.
The home is pristine and well-cared for. With a large, park-like backyard this home offers a wonderful, private area for entertaining. The pool and spa are enhanced with the rock waterfall. There is a corner of the yard for growing vegetables and many fruit trees as well as other flowering trees and redwoods.
The remodeled kitchen features slab granite, custom cabinetry, stainless appliances, a wet bar with a wine refrigerator and large tile flooring throughout the kitchen and adjoining family room. The huge master suite has a large sitting area and walk-in closet. There are a total of five bedrooms and one bedroom is on the ground floor with a nearby full bathroom.
This light and airy home shows extremely well and so buyers were quick to place their offer on it. Another example of a well-cared for home, priced at market value, receiving what these sellers were hoping for: a quick, above asking price offer!
To see a virtual tour of this property, click on this link: http://www.3cim.com/3cim/tour.do?method=viewTour&id=1269276194078&view=3
Percentage of Distressed Sales in South County
Diane Kawell, an award-winning Realtor in the Tacoma/Seattle area of Washington, mentioned in a comment on my previous post that 44% of all residential real estate sales in her area were distressed sales, i.e. sold listings that are short sales or bank-owned REOs. This made me curious about what the numbers are in our south Santa Clara County area.
I looked at each community of Morgan Hill, Gilroy and San Martin separately for single family home and condo/townhouse listings sold on the MLS within the past 365 days. Here is what I found:
Morgan Hill: total sales = 444, distressed sales = 231, percentage distressed = 52%
Gilroy: total sales = 659, distressed sales = 491, percentage distressed = 75%
San Martin: total sales = 36, distressed sales = 23, percentage distressed = 64%
I was somewhat surprised at the large percentage numbers. Buyers are buying “the deals” and the price discounts on distressed properties are very attractive. I suppose that I should have been expecting these large percentages. When I look back at the real estate properties that I sold within the past 365 days, 55% of those properties were either short sales or REOs.
Multi-million Dollar Real Estate Sales
Two high-priced properties went under contract in South County last week. 16367 Reynolds Drive in Morgan Hill, priced at $2,995,000, is a spectaular single-story home located on a prestigious street in the Paradise Valley area of Morgan Hill.
This 5125 square foot home is located on 1.8 beautifully landscaped acres and has 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms. A gorgeous kitchen is situated in the midst of all the activity. The family room boasts open hand-hewed ceiling beams. The huge master suite features a fireplace and retreat. The library, wine room and pool table room with wet bar create several spaces for entertaining and relaxing. The backyard also features areas for entertaining including an expansive outdoor dining pavilion with wood fireplace, pizza oven and kitchen. There are formal gardens, along with a custom pool and spa. The real slate roof is another high-end feature on this one-of-a-kind wonderful custom home.
15175 Sycamore Drive, Morgan Hill priced at $2,750,000, also sold last week. An equally spectacular property, this home is 6921 square feet located on 5 level acres and is in the Paradise Valley area of Morgan Hill as well.
This Tuscan inspired villa features all the amenities to be expected in this type of custom estate. The main home is 6300 square feet and includes 4 bedr00ms, 2 offices, 5 full baths, and 2 powder rooms. The detached pool house is 990+ square feet with a full kitchen and full bath. There is parking for 8 cars, a 580 square foot gym/game room with a 1/2 bathroom and a separate workshop.
These two high-priced real estate sales last week are remarkable in that there have only been two closed home sales during all of 2009 that were priced over $2 million.
Gretchen Merrick
cell (408) 892 9015
