November Home Sales Slow From October

The local housing market continues to be stable despite the usual slowdown around the holidays, according to the latest home sales report.

In Los Altos, 27 single-family homes were sold last month. It is 13 percent more than the same time last year but represents a drop of 7percent from October.  At $1,675,000, the median home price is 10 percent higher than last year but is 4 percent lower than the previous month.

In Los Altos Hills, sales dropped by 38 percent from last year and remained the same as the previous month. Its median home price, $2,235,000, is up by 8 percent from last year and by a whopping 13 percent from October.

Despite the apparent jump in price in Los Altos Hills, it should be noted that given the low volume, the median home price can easily be skewed. It doesn’t necessary mean the price of each home has gone up by that magnitude.

It is also worth to note that both “the average days on market” and “percentage of list price received” continued to improve in Los Altos Hills. In November, it took an average of 46 days to sell a home in the hills, compared to 66 days the month before ... and 201 days the same time last year. Meanwhile, the average percentage of list price received, which shows how much the buyers pay in relation to the asking price, remains high in Los Altos Hills. At 98.48 percent, it is the same as last month and is the highest in recent years, suggesting that there is a good balance in the market.

The same market indicators seem to be weaker in Los Altos, however, where the average days on market rose and percentage of list price received dropped from the previous month. But it is due to the fact that a number of homes were sold in November after having sat on the market for months. To be exact, six of the homes sold had been on the market for more than 100 days, with one for 423 days.

As a general rule of thumb, the longer a home has been on the market, the less the buyers will pay, in relation to the list price. It helps to explain the seemingly softness suggested in Los Altos.

As we’re officially in the holiday season,  the market will soften more in the coming weeks. Fewer homes are being put on the market now, as sellers are less inclined to show their homes during the holidays. And the same goes with the buyers. However, given how resilient the local markets have been, I don’t expect the seasonal slowdown to last long. So be sure to check us back next month to see how the local housing market fared during this holiday!

November 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

27

13%

59

1,675,000

10%

97%

LAH

5

-38%

46

2,235,000

8%

98.48%

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. You can also follow her on www.twitter.com/SVHomes for more local real estate updates.