To get clients the inside track on their deals, our agents constantly swap intelligence on the Peninsula real estate market, especially at our weekly all-hands meeting. I recap their collective intel and share it with you: this week’s bargain alert, sleeper market, what’s happening with prices and inventory, city-by-city. Remember, this is banter, not a perfect representation. It reflects many individuals’ different opinions and thoughts.
Peninsula Real Estate This Week
- What’s next for higher end: We anticipate a lull in Palo Alto and Menlo Park, as buyer fatigue sets in on the higher end. We’re hearing people say, “I’m quitting.” It’s similar to last year, when prices increased heading into spring, then stalled as buyers got fatigued.
- What’s next for lower end: Small houses will continue to sell like hotcakes. We don’t expect a slowdown, with so much buyer demand in places like Redwood City.
- International market: We have a very competent partner who addresses how we access the mainland Chinese market: Julie Tsai Law, who works with a lot of overseas buyers.
- Buyer profile: Buyer money in Palo Alto is young. This is a toddler market, not even a kindergarten market. We’re showing very high-end listings to families with two-year olds.
Bargain alert: 262 Kingsley in Palo Alto
262 Kingsley is extremely underpriced. A nice spot in Professorville. 3/2. Somewhat livable. 7200 sq ft lot for $2.2M. Best deal in town.
Sleeper Market: Los Altos Hills
Prices in Los Altos Hills are behind the curve. Ladera in Portola Valley is taking off, leaving Los ALtos Hills as the only mid-Peninsula real estate market that’s not quite there yet. Look for buyers to head to the hills in search of value.
Atherton
- new: 93 Serrano (list: $10.5M) and 6 Knoll (list: $5M).
- pending / sold: 31 Fairview, 97 Fairview (downsizers), 68 Euclid, 260 Selby, Walnut, Fair Oaks, Irving.
Los Altos
- Los Altos wants to catch up to Palo Alto. North Los Altos is off the hook. People are bidding, even competing on a preemptive.
- Downtown Los Altos is on an upswing. It’s really cute, although there’s still only one bar in the entire town
Los Altos Hills
- Prices in Los Altos Hills are behind the curve.
- Historically, summer is the buying season in Los Altos Hills, as inventory rises at end of spring.
- International buyers are partly driving this market, as they buy in summer and send their elementary age kids to summer programs at Stanford. Mainland Chinese buyers typically shop for homes in July.
- Families prefer North Los Altos Hills, so the kids can go to Palo Alto schools.
Menlo Park
- Prices keep pushing up.
- Average $ / sq ft: $1180
- Average list price: $2.7M
- The Willows is getting crazy numbers; West Menlo has settled down a bit.
- sold / pending:
- Berkeley: huge lot, was underpriced, got a preemptive offer right after tour.
- Cotton: Lot value. $4M for 24,000 sq ft lot with an old 1970s house.
- 839 College went pending very quickly for $4.15M.
- for sale: only 6 active listings.
South Palo Alto (anything from Oregon south)
- South Palo Alto is the entry level of PA, with a price range of $1.7M to 2.2M.
- pending / sold: 10 houses sold, mostly Eichlers. last week’s inventory all sold. Everything’s selling 3-6 offers, going 200-300K over ask price.
North Palo Alto
- new: 8 new listings. People are starting to sell.
- bargain alert: 262 Kingsley is underpriced. A nice spot in Professorville. Somewhat livable. 7200 sq ft lot for $2.2M.
- for sale: 17 active listings. only 1 condo on market in North Palo Alto. FSBO house on 800 block of on Hamilton. Asking $3.5M. It’s been a Stanford student rental for years.
- pending / sold: 3 sales. people are selling only due to divorces or deaths. they’re not upsizing or downsizing because there’s nothing to move in to.
Redwood City
- The small houses are doing very well right now. Buyer profile: first time buyers. professionals (doctors, lawyers) who are priced out of everything else. Parents are looking for their adult kids in that area.
- Do not anticipate a lull, with so much buyer demand. RWC is not a discretionary market. These are people with kids and jobs who need houses. If some buyers get discouraged about the rising prices, others will jump in to write offers.
- We’re seeing stratospheric prices on some deals in less favorable neighborhoods. If these are appraising, that may indicate that banks are loosening up a little bit on lending.
- new: not a lot of new activity. 454 Buena Vista: List: 899. 2 BR/1 BA fixer with 910 sq ft. That’s $1000 a foot for a fixer!
- notable pending / sales:
- 2532 Hampton. List: $1.179M. Sold: <$1.5M. 13 offers. Almost 300K over asking. The comps are $1.2 – 1.3M. There’s nothing to comp it out, so buyers are coming up with cash for the difference.
- 180 Inner Circle (Mt Carmel). List: $799. Sold: >$900K. Got 5 offers. 2 BR/1BA.
- 47 Murray Court. List: $599. Sold: $800K. 20 offers. Beautiful 2B$/1BA house in dodgy area on a small lot sold $200K over.
- duplex on Wheeler: List: $899. Sold: $1.165. Duplexes are selling well in RWC right now.
Portola Valley
- Ladera has taken off. Prices are reaching new highs. Good public schools are driving a lot of this activity. Younger families love this close-in neighborhood. Ladera has gone through the roof on the last 2 or 3 sales, which went $1.7 – 1.9M, putting Ladera out of range for many young families.
- Los Trancos Woods tends to be slower, as it’s further out, where the road twists and turns. That area has had 2-3 brand new listings that were very well prepared for market or new construction. They’re going like hotcakes with multiple offers.
- Coming soon: a gorgeous modern in Los Trancos Woods next week.
Woodside
- Woodside is the outlier market, where homes actually sit on the market for a while.
- new: 8 new listings last week. Half already been on market before. 437 Whiskey Hill on and off for a few years.
- pending / sold: 560 Moore went pending, only one offer. 360 Woodside Dr finally sold. 132 Otis, at bottom of market, in Woodside Glens, with rotted out decks. Blue Ridge, pending for $7.4M, great for horse lovers. Hardwick finally sold for $4.8M – RWC schools, some Highway 280 noise.
- how does the market value Eleanor Drive? Some like its off-the-grid feeling, but homes sit there for a long time, with price reductions. People who pay Woodside money want Woodside schools, not Las Lomitas schools. Eleanor feels more attached to Atherton and Redwood City than Woodside proper, as it’s easier to go down the hill for shopping and food than up to Woodside.
Sign up for these recaps, delivered to your inbox each week.
1
5
0
1
0
