Business & Tech
Los Altos, LAH Home Sales Soar, But Median Price Drops in June
Buyers are negotiating hard amid uncertainty, shown by a median-price drop of 6 percentage points in May.
Looks like the local housing market has no intention of slowing down, as home sales in Los Altos and Los Altos Hills were up again last month.
According to the latest home sales report, single-family home sales continued to be strong, and the price was up again on a year-to-year basis.
In June, the median home price in Los Altos was $1.66 million, which was 11 percent higher than last year; and sales have gone up by 17 percent. In Los Altos Hills, sales went up by 25 percent, though the median price, at $2.2 million, was down slightly by 1 percent from last year.
Find out what's happening in Los Altosfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
But let's look closer: The picture is not completely rosy compared with last month, especially in Los Altos.
While the number of sales in June topped that of May by 45 percent, the median home price has retreated from its 29-month high of $1.75 million just reached in May, and was down by 6 percent.
Find out what's happening in Los Altosfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The average days on market has shot up from 21-29 days, and buyers on average were paying less than what the sellers had asked, as shown by the drop in the percentage of list price received. Sellers had been receiving 99.41 percent of list price but in June received 98.08 percent.
All these suggest that while demand is strong, buyers continue to negotiate hard for the best deal in the midst of economic uncertainty.
Homes that went under contract in June are usually closed in July. Next month’s home sale report will present another important picture of how well the local housing market is recovering. We will come back with more as soon as the statistics are out.
June 2011 Home Sales Statistics
Single-Family Residences
City
Sales
Change from last year
Average days on market
Median price
Change from last year
% list price received
Los Altos
42
17%
29
$1,660,600
11%
98.08
LAH
10
25%
80
$2,220,000
-1%
97.3
Source: MLS Listings
Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed.
Winnie Yip Fong, a Los Altos resident and a local realtor, prepares this monthly home sales report to keep readers updated of the local housing market. Email her to winniefong.realestate@gmail.com for any suggestions or comments.