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Health & Fitness

Palo Alto Median Home Price Crossed $2M Mark in April

The median price of a single family home in Palo Alto crossed the $2M threshold in April and reached an all-time record of $2.061M. The average sale price also ended up above the $2M mark at $2.096M.

The Palo Alto real estate market has fully recovered from the recession and is soaring to new highs — the median price of a single family home crossed the $2M threshold in April and reached an all-time record of $2.061M (based on MLS data).

The average sale price also ended up above the $2M mark at $2.096M.  The average days on the market in April dropped to 14 days, down from 16 days in March.  The last time homes were selling this quickly was in March of 2005, when new listings went into a pending state in an average of 13 days.  Inventory increased from 32 homes available for sale in March to 47 in April.

The moderate inventory increase, however, was not enough to satisfy the housing demand.  Silicon Valley companies are hiring and bringing in people from other parts of the country.  The March unemployment rate in Palo Alto was 4.8 percent, in Los Altos it stood at 4.6 percent and in Mountain View, 6.7 percent.  These numbers are well below national and state averages, which are 8.4 percent and 11.5 percent respectively.

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According to the Wall Street Journal, ten Bay Area companies went public since the beginning of the year, three of them in April alone — Infoblox, Proofpoint and Splunk.  At the same time, a countless number of promising startups were acquired by other companies without getting much press.  The most notable was Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram for $1B announced on April 9th.

Going into the summer, we expect the listing volume to increase comparing with earlier in the year — we are constantly getting updates about upcoming new listings through the agent network.  The demand should remain strong as an economic recovery supports higher employment and will bring additional workers to the Bay Area.

Find out what's happening in Palo Altowith free, real-time updates from Patch.

We also see a significant interest from foreign investors, especially in Palo Alto.  A large portion of purchases are completed with all cash and this trend should continue for the foreseeable future.

Michael Talis is co-owner of Talis Real Estate

Month-Over-Month



Month, Year Listed Sold Median Price DOM January 2012 36 20 $1,515,000 35 February 2012 42 24 $1,950,000 29 March 2012 53 40 $1,700,000 16 April 2012 68 36 $2,061,000 14




Year-Over-Year



Month, Year Listed Sold Median Price DOM April 2009 73 29 $1,245,000 24 April 2010 56 32 $1,650,000 34 April 2011 70 64 $1,650,000 34 April 2012 68 36 $2,061,000 14
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