Map: Almost All Homes in Palo Alto See Increase in Value

Newscruncher is a daily series that breaks down the characteristics of your town by the numbers. You can see more posts by clicking the Newscruncher link above the headline or by checking out our weekend roundups. If you see any technical issues with this map (like an "N/A" value on an important part of town), or if you'd like to suggest ideas for future Newscruncher articles, please email data@patch.com.

The map above shows a snapshot of the percentage of homes across town whose values increased in the past year. The data are from September.

Several years since the housing bubble burst, home values have returned to October 2004 levels overall.

One of the reasons for the rise is that young adults, having stayed home because of the uncertain economic environment, have started to leave their parents’ places. They are creating households at the fastest rate since 2007.

However, as the homes become less affordable and with mortgage rates rising, the national increase in home values is expected to slow down.

Palo Alto may not follow that trend.

For example, Zillow predicts 94303 zip code home values will rise 7.9% next year, compared to a 7% rise for Palo Alto as a whole. The home pictured with this article is 127.4% more expensive than the midpoint (median) home, and is priced 33.3% more per square foot.

Foreclosures will be a factor impacting home values in the next several years. But in the Palo Alto market, the number of foreclosures waiting to be sold shrank 2.7% in the last year. 

The data in this map are from Zillow, a real estate Web site. Using your cursor, you can hover over any area of town and see in the box in the upper right hand corner of the map the percentage of homes whose values increased there. Zillow is a Patch Partner.

What do you think explains the percentage of homes whose values increased across town? Tell us in a comment or a blog post.