Since the beginning of the year the real estate market started showing signs of a slowdown — the median sale price remained almost unchanged. In May the average number of days on the market in Palo Alto increased to 20 days while the number of new listings was dropped.
Only 53 homes were put on the market in May of this year while 57 were listed in April. The decreased supply, however, did not trigger yet another round of bidding wars and the average selling price vs. listing price ratio decreased to 110.6 percent in May, down from 112.3 percent in April.
The median price of single family home in Palo Alto in May was $2,100,000. And while it is a 23.4 percent increase from the same month last year, it is a 4.5 percent decrease from the March/April levels.
Find out what's happening in Palo Altowith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The number of accepted offers decreases to 36 from 47 last month and 51 ratified contracts a year ago. At the current price levels achieved in and around Palo Alto we see buyer shifting their focus further south to cities like Sunnyvale and Santa Clara.
Another cooling factor affecting the real estate market are the interest rates. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rate reached 3.91 percent with an average of 0.7 points according to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey® published on June 6th of this year. In a dramatic 4-week increase the interest rates jumped 0.49 percent and reached the highest point since the week of April 5th of 2012.
Find out what's happening in Palo Altowith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Month, Year Listed Sold Median Price DOM
February 2013 38 16 $2,215,000 19
March 2013 38 29 $2,200,000 16
April 2013 57 43 $2,200,000 13
May 2013 53 44 $2,100,000 20
Year-Over-Year
Month, Year Listed Sold Median Price DOM
May 2010 65 51 $1,409,000 27
May 2011 59 55 $1,400,000 14
May 2012 75 51 $1,702,000 11
May 2013 53 44 $2,100,000 20
Michael Talis is co-owner of TALIS Real Estate.
