Health & Fitness
March Real Estate Madness - A Month In Review
March of 2012 was nothing like March of last year! The number of single family homes sold year-over-year fell from 45 units to 40, but not due to a lack of buyer interest.
March of 2012 was nothing like March of last year! The number of single family homes sold year-over-year fell from 45 units to 40, but not due to a lack of buyer interest. From our buyer clients we sense a tremendous feel of urgency to get into a house before the market will price them out of Palo Alto and the surrounding cities.
Real estate market statistics confirm this threat. The selling price per square foot increased from $878 in March of 2011 to $921 this March, the average number of days a house is on the market (DOM) dropped from 21 days to 16 days over the same period of time (see Market Action Report). The number of homes available for sale dropped from 60 to 32 year-over-year and the selling to list price ratio reached 108.8 percent, the highest number since May of 2005, when it was at 112.7 percent.
The demand for housing is being fueled by the increased levels of economic activity in the area. A large number of local employers are hiring, with a steady flow of companies setting up shop in Palo Alto and other nearby cities.
Find out what's happening in Palo Altowith free, real-time updates from Patch.
GetHired.com, a startup that secured $2M in its first round of funding at the end of April, opened an office in downtown Palo Alto soon after raising capital. Groupon recently announced plans to hire as many as 100 engineers in Palo Alto, and Ford selected downtown Palo Alto as the location of its first West Coast research facility.
With the Palo Alto unemployment rate at 4.7 percent in February, it’s no surprise that housing can’t keep up with the demand.
Find out what's happening in Palo Altowith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Meanwhile, sellers are holding back — 53 single family homes were listed this month while 84 were listed in March of 2011. The shortage of inventory that we noticed during the summer of 2011 continues and prices are being driven up.
Multiple offer situations and all-cash offers have become a common occurrence. The median price of a single family home in Palo Alto reached $1,680,000, a 36 percent jump from the last market bottom in March of 2009. Continued near-record low interest rates provide additional support for the market upswing.
Michael Talis is co-owner of Talis Real Estate
Month-Over-MonthMonth, Year Listed Sold Median Price DOM Dec. 2011 8 20 $1,480,000 30 January 2012 36 20 $1,515,000 35 February 2012 42 24 $1,950,000 29 March 2012 53 40 $1,680,000 16
Year-Over-Year
Month, Year Listed Sold Median Price DOM March 2009 63 24 $1,230,000 35 March 2010 51 28 $1,410,000 60 March 2011 84 45 $1,590,000 21 March 2012 53 40 $1,680,000 16
