by Mary Pope-Handy | Oct 23, 2019 | Homes & Housing Market, Los Gatos Real Estate
There are many factors impacting the Los Gatos real estate market, including the price point and the elementary or high school district. This post is updated every month or two. Today we’ll look at the Los Gatos realty market by pricing tiers and high school district using the months of inventory as a data point. The months of inventory, or MOI, is the currently active (for sale, no contract or pending sale) homes for sale divided by the number of homes using the same criteria which have closed escrow in the last 30 days.
These numbers were run today using MLSListings.com and it’s possible that a few more homes will be recorded as closed sales or new homes added to the market after I ran these numbers. One other disclaimer: sometimes the number of closed sales is very low or is at 0. This can be for many reasons. In some cases, there are a few which are sale pending and simply haven’t closed recently. In other cases, the market might actually be empty in those tiers, indicating a possible lack of demand or inventory. That being said, what do the numbers say?
Los Gatos real estate months of inventory in 95030 and 95032 combined
The overall MOI for the town as a whole with 95030 and 95032 zip codes shows a mild seller’s market, with post-summer cooling likely in what is a typical seasonal pattern. It is a bit of a mixed market when looking at the town as a whole, but less so when viewed by high school district or price point. We’ll see when the month is over, but already in many parts of Santa Clara County, the real estate market is returning to seasonal patterns with some cool pockets and some which remain hotter.
And here’s the same chart with data from last February. You can see that in mid-winter the inventory was smaller and moving slightly slower.
Looking back farther, here’s the same info for last November – the overall absorption rate isn’t much different from right now, and inventory and sales are neck-and-neck. Almost exactly a year ago, the market doesn’t look too different.
And a reference from April, when the market was red hot:
The real estate market for homes with the Los Gatos – Saratoga Joint Union High School District only
Now let’s view just the homes which are in the Los Gatos – Saratoga Joint Union High School District (or homes “in the schools” as locals say).Houses for sale with Los Gatos schools tend to be more pricey than those in neighboring school districts. This isn’t just the schools, but is also a function of being closer to downtown Los Gatos. The lowest priced homes in this area are seldom listed for less than $1 million.
Once again, we’ll compare it against last February. While the overall market is moving faster today than in February, here we can see that for homes in the Los Gatos School District were moving more quickly in winter. While the number of sales hasn’t changed much, inventory has gone up in this sector.
From last November, again, not a ton different between then and now.
(more…)
by Mary Pope-Handy | Dec 17, 2013 | Homes & Housing Market
December 17, 2013
Sorting out the local Los Gatos real estate market can be a bit tricky, but one of the best instruments for measuring performance is the months of inventory (MOI, or absorption rate). In this article we’ll consider the MOI houses in Los Gatos 95030 and 95032 by high school district and price point, since I believe those are the two main drivers of our residential real estate market.
Also, this time I’m adding in the pending sales as an indicator of where the market is going, too – just to cover the bases! Finally, since I did a similar study the first week in November, but without the pendings, I’ll keep those below the current tables for the sake of comparison. Overall, right now we have a brisk 2 months of inventory for houses in Los Gatos. But homes in the lowest price point are selling far faster – at about 10 days of inventory!! The MOI increases very clearly with higher price points, where it becomes increasingly challenging to sell.
About six weeks earlier, it looked like this chart below -the MOI is now a lot faster (4.19 then to 2.04 now) as inventory has shrunk by about a third and sales have increased (21 to 28 now). Perhaps most striking is the change in the luxury or high end market over the last six weeks. It seems far harder to sell a luxury home now as opposed to then.
Next up – homes “in the schools” with Los Gatos High School, then those in the Leigh HS and Westmont HS attendance areas. How will these numbers stack up compared to the town as a whole?
Please read the full article on my Valley of Hearts Delight blog
by Mary Pope-Handy | Apr 2, 2013 | Homes & Housing Market
April 02, 2013
Sorting out the local Los Gatos real estate market can be a bit tricky, as there are so many variables that can throw the analysis. Among them we have to consider school district, price point, sometimes zip code, proximity to downtown, proximity to positive and negative issues, condition of property and more. As one agent says, it’s a patchwork quilt!
Today let’s just have a view by homes in Los Gatos 95030 and 95032 by school district and price point, since I believe those are the two main drivers of our residential real estate market.
First, let’s consider the town as a whole or on average. As of right now, there are 65 houses or duet homes for sale. There are 22 which have sold & closed escrow in the last 30 days. 65/22 = 2.95 months of inventory. Not bad! Five or six months is a balanced market, less is a seller’s market – so right now there’s stronger demand than supply.
Please view the rest of this article on the Valley of Heart’s Delight blog!
by Mary Pope-Handy | May 30, 2012 | Homes & Housing Market
May 30, 2012
Months of Inventory for the Los Gatos Real Estate Market by School District and Price Point
The Los Gatos real estate market is “hot” overall – but not equally, and certainly not in all areas or price points! Yesterday I crunched the numbers from my MLS to provide for you the absorption rate or months of inventory. This figure is calculated by getting the count of active listings (not under contract – some statisticians include pending sales as well) and the sales closed in the last month and dividing them. If there are 3 homes for sale and 1 closed in the last month, you have 3 months of inventory. What this means is simple: if no new inventory came on the market, how long, at the current rate of sales, would it be for buyers to “absorb” the current supply of inventory? The shorter it is, the hotter the market. Five or six months is balanced.
Group One: The more affordable homes in 95030 and 95032 in Los Gatos – up to $2 million. Where it says “infinite”, that means that homes are for sale but none sold/closed escrow in the last 30 days. Where it says N/A, no homes for sale or sold. Have a look:
What’s hot? Up to the $1.5 million point, everything in LG is hot! The cooling starts at $1.5 mil in the part of down with Campbell or Union Schools. For houses “in the schools”, the market remains strong up to the $2 million mark, where it changes dramatically.
How are things for the over $2,000,000 point?
Over $2 million, it’s anywhere from a balanced market to impossible to sell for Los Gatos houses on the market. Homes over $2 million are tough to sell if they don’t feed to Los Gatos High School. But even properties which have LGHS as the school of attendance are challenged to sell in the upper pricing tiers.
Los Gatos Real Estate Report for April 2012 Sales
Prices are up for Los Gatos real estate sales! (Click on link for full data from my Los Gatos Real Estate Report.)
Below please find the statistics and numbers for house sales in the town of Los Gatos (95030 and 95032) which closed in the month of April. Things are looking up!
| Trends At a Glance |
Apr 2012 |
Previous Month |
Year-over Year |
| Median Price |
$1,350,000 |
$1,260,500 (+7.1%) |
$1,344,000 (+0.4%) |
| Average Price |
$1,431,940 |
$1,405,640 (+1.9%) |
$1,479,120 (-3.2%) |
| No. of Sales |
39 |
38 (+2.6%) |
30 (+30.0%) |
| Pending Properties |
54 |
53 (+1.9%) |
47 (+14.9%) |
| Foreclosures Sold |
3 |
2 (+50.0%) |
0 (N/A) |
| Short Sales Sold |
3 |
1 (+200.0%) |
1 (+200.0%) |
| Active Listings |
78 |
88 (-11.4%) |
50 (+56.0%) |
| Sales Price vs. List Price |
99.6% |
100.1% (-0.6%) |
96.7% (+2.9%) |
| Days on Market |
36 |
35 (+2.4%) |
61 (-41.3%) |
Los Gatos condominium & townhouse sales (click on link for more info)
Improvement month over month, but year over year the numbers are still down.
| Trends At a Glance |
Apr 2012 |
Previous Month |
Year-over Year |
| Median Price |
$616,000 |
$565,000 (+9.0%) |
$715,000 (-13.8%) |
| Average Price |
$596,557 |
$590,294 (+1.1%) |
$768,500 (-22.4%) |
| No. of Sales |
11 |
17 (-35.3%) |
5 (+120.0%) |
| Pending Properties |
21 |
15 (+40.0%) |
13 (+61.5%) |
| Foreclosures Sold |
2 |
2 (0.0%) |
1 (+100.0%) |
| Short Sales Sold |
1 |
2 (-50.0%) |
0 (N/A) |
| Active Listings |
11 |
20 (-45.0%) |
40 (-72.5%) |
| Sales Price vs. List Price |
98.1% |
96.8% (+1.3%) |
97.4% (+0.7%) |
| Days on Market |
63 |
78 (-19.3%) |
108 (-41.6%) |
The Los Gatos Mountains
Softer prices prevail in the mountains….
| Trends At a Glance |
Apr 2012 |
Previous Month |
Year-over Year |
| Median Price |
$662,500 |
$678,000 (-2.3%) |
$715,000 (-7.3%) |
| Average Price |
$589,750 |
$651,484 (-9.5%) |
$683,750 (-13.7%) |
| No. of Sales |
4 |
8 (-50.0%) |
4 (0.0%) |
| Pending Properties |
16 |
8 (+100.0%) |
7 (+128.6%) |
| Foreclosures Sold |
0 |
1 (-100.0%) |
0 (N/A) |
| Short Sales Sold |
0 |
1 (-100.0%) |
0 (N/A) |
| Active Listings |
31 |
32 (-3.1%) |
21 (+47.6%) |
| Sales Price vs. List Price |
91.6% |
99.6% (-8.1%) |
93.6% (-2.1%) |
| Days on Market |
190 |
90 (+112.0%) |
144 (+32.2%) |
by Mary Pope-Handy | Nov 16, 2010 | Homes & Housing Market
November 16, 2010
The real estate absorption rate, or months of invenory, can vary dramatically from one part of the local Silicon Valley real estate market to the next. Right now in Los Gatos, though, it’s fairly stable or uniform. The months of inventory are not terribly different between sale type & hope type in town. It’s not like that in most of San Jose or Santa Clara County! (Reminder, conservatively, 6 months is a balanced market, more is a buyers market and less is a sellers market.)
Houses in Los Gatos, “regular sale”, months of inventory = 5.78 MOI
Condominiums and townhomes in Los Gatos, “regular sale”, months of inventory = 5 MOI
What about short sales?
Short sale houses in Los Gatos, MOI = 5.4
Short sale condos or townhouses in Los Gatos, MOI = 4.5
This is really weird to have the short sales be selling so much better than regular sales. In Sunnyvale it’s the complete opposite! There regular condos and townhomes are selling at the rate of 4.42 MOI but those which are short sales are a whopping 16 months!
To get data and info on the rest of Santa Clara County, please visit my Silicon Valley real estate blog, The Valley of Hearts Delight.
