By Ben Irwin. San Jose Spotlight.
Median home sales prices have skyrocketed in Silicon Valley's hottest housing markets, and residents are moving out.
A new study by Joint Venture Silicon Valley found that the region's median home sales price peaked at $1.53 million in 2022, driven by three major competitive markets: Fremont, Santa Clara and Sunnyvale.
Heidi Young, senior researcher at the Silicon Valley Institute for Regional Studies, part of Joint Venture Silicon Valley, said high demand for these “hot” real estate markets in Fremont, Santa Clara and Sunnyvale has not saved these cities from more people move than move. It is a trend throughout the region.
“That's not a one-time thing, if anything it's an indicator of what's happening across the region...even the booming real estate markets are not exempt from that,” Young told San José Spotlight. “That is the reality of the region.”
Santa Clara saw the largest growth in median home sales price at $1.41 million, a 17 percent increase from 2021. Millennials remain the predominant home buyers in Santa Clara, with homes averaging nine offers and they sell for almost 10 percent above the asking price, according to the study.
The study also uses data from greatschools.org, which rates schools on test scores, academic progress and equity, to help potential buyers decide where to live.
According to their data, Santa Clara elementary schools, for example, scored just five out of 10. In the other two hot markets, Fremont elementary schools scored between three and seven out of 10, with Sunnyvale schools scoring the highest. with a rating of nine out of 10.
“School ratings are obviously a big draw for families when they buy a home,” Young said.
Will Chea, president of the Santa Clara County Association of REALTORS, a trade association that represents more than 6,000 real estate professionals in Santa Clara County, told San José Spotlight that the Santa Clara school rankings They are just one aspect of the city's broader appeal. More than half of the new homebuyers in Santa Clara came from the interior of the county, suggesting that the area continues to attract local residents, he said.
“The substantial increase in property values could mean an influx of higher-income residents, which could lead to improvements in local schools and decrease the poverty rate over time,” Chea told San José Spotlight. “The fact that more than half of (Santa Clara’s) population is foreign-born indicates a diverse and multicultural community, potentially contributing to its unique character and appeal.”
Although property values in the county as a whole have increased, data from the Santa Clara County Assessor's Office reported that a significant number of properties decreased in value from 2,595 last year to 19,325 this year. . Aside from a brief spike in 2020 during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, this is the first time the county has seen such a large decline since the 2008 financial crisis, County Assessor Larry Stone told San José Spotlight.
In neighboring Alameda County, Fremont is among the most competitive real estate markets locally and statewide. The 94536 area code, which includes the cities of Glenmoor, Centerville, Parkmond, Cherry-Guardino, Canyon Heights, Vallejo Mills, Niles and Cabrillo, is where the dollar goes the furthest, with a median price per square foot of $811.
Sunnyvale rounds out the study's list of “hot housing” markets as the most expensive, with a median home sales price of $2.4 million, although that's still down 6 percent from 2021.
“It is evident that the (Sunnyvale) area attracts families due to its high-quality educational offerings and economic stability,” Chea said.
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