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Health & Fitness

State of Real Estate in Palo Alto: February 2012

There may have been a record set last month in Palo Alto — a house on Georgia Avenue was sold with 38 offers, the highest number of offers in the memory of many real estate professionals.

 

There may have been a record set last month in Palo Alto — a house on Georgia Avenue was sold with 38 offers, the highest number of offers in the memory of many real estate professionals.  It means that there were 37 potential buyers that were ready to put money down and did not get the house. 

Most of these families are probably still on the market searching for new opportunities in our city and in the surrounding communities of Los Alto, Los Altos Hills and Mountain View.  The high demand pushed prices up — the median sale price reached $1,950,000 for a single family home, the highest number since December of 2007 when the median sale price reached $2,100,000.

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The national news is still talking about the housing market searching for the bottom while we experience a strong recovery in our area.  With the number of homes available for sale in Palo Alto dropping 39.2 percent from the same time last year, the average number of days on the market in February decreased to 29, down from 35 days in January and down from 36 days in February of last year.  Price per square foot of a single family home reached $944, a 4.9 percent increase from $900 in January and 14.7 percent increase from $823 in February of last year.

Because it lies in the heart of Silicon Valley, Palo Alto is also doing better from an economic point of view than many other areas in Santa Clara County and the state as a whole.  The unemployment rate in Palo Alto was 4.6 percent in December 2011; in Santa Clara County, it was 8.7 percent, while in California overall the unemployment rate was 10.9 percent, according to the latest published data.

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

Looking forward to the rest of the year, we are expecting listing activities to increase fueled by high demand.  If this year ends up being similar to 2011 when 84 homes were put on the market in March, March of 2012 should jumpstart the spring selling season with a significant increase in new listings while multiple offers will continue to be a common occurrence in Palo Alto.

Month, Year Listed Sold Median Price DOM Nov. 2011 29 39 $1,390,000 31 Dec. 2011 8 20 $1,480,000 30 January 2012 36 20 $1,515,000 35 February 2012 42 24 $1,950,000 29




Month, Year Listed Sold Median Price DOM February 2009 76 14 $1,592,000 64 February 2010 43 23 $1,505,000 48 February 2011 46 18 $1,925,000 36 February 2012 42 24 $1,950,000 29

This post originally appeared on PaloAltoCal.com

 

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