First Half of 2014 Real Estate Market Performance

The numbers are in for the first half of 2014 real estate. Home sales were strong throughout Portola Valley, Woodside, Atherton, Menlo Park, Palo Alto, Los Altos and Los Altos Hills. See the detail for each town below.

Portola Valley

Home sales are the strongest they’ve been in many years with 50 sales already in 2014. The average length of time to sell a home declined by 17%, and even more impressive – the median number of days on market decreased 27%. The average price shows a slight dip but this is due to a particularly high-end sale in 2013 that skewed the average to be higher than normal. The median price on the other hand, and a truer picture of the market, increased 7.5% in the first half of this year.

There are currently just 9 homes available for sale, 4 of which are in excess of $6 million and have been on the market for more than 7 months. There have been no new listings in the past 3 weeks.

Woodside

Home sales are strong with 51 sales already this year. The average length of time to sell a home stayed about the same as last year. The median days on market on the other hand, and a clearer indicator of the market, declined to 20 this year, compared to 35 days in 2013. The average price increased 22.4% from last year to $3,191,741 and the median price increased by 18.6% to $2,435,000. There are currently 45 homes available for sale, 40% of which arein excess of $5 million plus over 30% have been on the market formore than 100 days.

There have been only 2 new listings in the past 2 weeks.

Atherton

Atherton has 58 sales already this year – that’s ahead of last year’s half-year number of 53. The average length of time to sell a home stayed about the same, while a more impressive number was the median days on market, which was just 15 days. The average price climbed an impressive 31.8% to $5,380,321. The median price increased 13.2% in the first half of this year.

There are currently 25 homes available for sale, 50% of which are inexcess of $9 million. While we currently have a surprising number of buyers in the high-end luxury market, the majority of our ready buyers are searching for a home of $5 million or lower and there are very few available in that range.

Menlo Park

Menlo Park has 155 sales already this year. That number would have been a lot higher had there been more homes for sale. The average length of time to sell a home declined by 20% to 20 days on market, and even more impressive is the median number of days on market, which was just 11 days.The average price rose an impressive 25.5% to $2,136,232. The median price increased by 22.5% in the first half of this year.

There are currently just 25 homes available for sale, and 36% of them have been there for 3 weeks or less!

Palo Alto

While home sales seem slow with 185 sales inthe first half of the year – due to very few homes for sale – the sale prices are the strongest they’ve been in many years. The average sale price rose 14% to $2,700,108, and the median price rose over 10% to $2,320,000. Homes were selling faster too, with the average length of time to sell a home declining by 17.6% to 14 dayson market.

There are currently 31 homes available for sale, and of those, overhalf have been on the market for a month or less. In other words,home are not lingering on the market.

Los Altos and Los Altos Hills

There have been 199 sales this year so far. The average length of time to sell a home declined by 35.4% to 20 days on market. The average price made an impressive 17.6% climb from last year to $2,810,411 and the median price increased by 9% to $2,250,000.

There are currently 33 homes available for sale, 13 in Los Altos and 20 in Los Altos Hills. In Los Altos, new listings sell fast. In fact, of the homes currently for sale, 75% have been on the market for less than a month. In the Hills, only 1 home has been listed in the last 3 weeks and we’re seeing very few homes lingering on the market.