The Monte Sereno real estate market

by Clair Handy, Mary Pope-Handy | Sep 20, 2023 | Homes & Housing Market, Los Gatos Real Estate, Monte Sereno Real Estate

The City of Monte Sereno is a popular community bordering Los Gatos, Saratoga, and the Santa Cruz mountains. It’s also quite small, with just about 3,500 residents, so tracking the real estate market trends for the area can be tricky.

Info at a glance (details further below):

• This city is currently in a slight seller’s market with low inventory, just 8 available homes at the end of August.
• Pending and closed sales are up compared to this time last year, but relatively stable month-over-month.
• As of today, September 20, 2023, there are 8 available Monte Sereno homes for sale (1 of them is “members only”), 2 pending sales, 0 contingent sales, and 2 closed sales so far this month in Monte Sereno.

The number of houses sold in any given month will always be extremely small and the data will jump around. Checking the Los Gatos market will also help, but the best pulse on the market will come from particular sales in particular neighborhoods.

Houses make up most of Monte Sereno – there are no commercial buildings, just a post office, city hall, some churches or religious grounds, and an elementary school. There are also extremely few residential properties that are not detached single family homes. We don’t track the condo or townhomes in this area as we do in other communities because there just wouldn’t be enough (if any) data for it!

First up for the market analysis is the Altos Research weekly profile for Monte Sereno (uses list prices, not sales). This is updated automatically, so feel free to check this article weekly to see what’s happening now with list prices.

The number of home sales is very small in Monte Sereno. In fact, there were no closed sales throughout the month of May! The same is true with August 2022, as you can see in the chart below. But even when there are sales, one or two outstanding properties could cause major waves in the data, so take this summary with a grain of salt.

August: 3 Sales

While the lack of sales and listings can make sales data (like price and days on market) swing wildly, we can see that the closed sales, pendings, and active inventory are all up from last year when the market was cooling.  When inventory and sales are this low it’s crucial to track the neighboring Los Gatos market as well, to gain a bit more insight.

What does it cost to live in Monte Sereno? With an average sale price of roughly $3 – $4 million, you may wonder if anything sells that’s not in the stratosphere – can you buy an entry-level Silicon Valley home in Monte Sereno? The short answer is this: it’s not easy to find anything for under $2.5 million in Monte Sereno. Even a “fixer” often goes well above that. It can happen, although it’s rare, and the home will certainly be priced that way for a reason.

We also keep track of this market over at the Valley of Heart’s Delight blog, in addition to many other communities around Silicon Valley.

Other pricing consideration: what about schools?

Something else to be aware of is that most Monte Sereno houses are in the Los Gatos Union School District, but a small pocket of properties lies within the Campbell School District. Those with Campbell schools usually sell for a little less. Additionally, most of this city is within the 95030 zip code, but again, there’s a small pocket which is in the 95032 area.

Next, what kind of home is available to purchase in Monte Sereno now?

Click here to view Monte Sereno Homes for Sale

See all Monte Sereno, CA Homes for Sale & Recently Sold.
(all data current as of 9/28/2023)

Listing information deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Read full disclaimer.