June ’09 Sales for the Peninsula Area

by cindy ~ July 9th, 2009 ~ Atherton, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Menlo Park, Palo Alto, Portola Valley, Statistics, Woodside Comments (87)
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The sales numbers are now in for June.  I think you will find it interesting to compare June 2009 sales to June 2008.  Average real estate sales prices are down in Atherton, Menlo Park, Palo Alto, Los Altos and Woodside but, are UP in Los Altos Hills and in Portola Valley compared to June of 2008. New listings, current inventory and Days On Market (DOM) are up – no surprises there, it has been a buyers market and not a seller’s market this year.  Note that the percent of list price that was paid to Sellers was down in every community on “average” about 3% in 2009 versus in 2008.  Total volume in sales was down in 2009 by over $44, 407,800.00 – whoa that is a big number, but it could have been worse.  Menlo Park, Palo Alto and Portola Valley were down significantly in sales volume and significantly contributed to that loss of $44.4M+ in real estate sales volume.  Atherton, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills and Woodside were up in sales volume in June of 2009 versus in June of 2008.  More homes sold in Atherton, Los Altos and Woodside in June of 2009 than in June of 2008, and that made up the difference, even though there was a loss in average sales prices for each of those communities.  Buyers saw the reduction in average sales prices for those communities as values and pounced on the opportunities to move into/within those communities – very smart!  Keep in mind the chart below shows only those properties that sold on the multiple listing service and NOT those that sold “off market”.  So, all in all, it could have been worse – such as the losses sustained in the Midwest, but we are in a lucky bubble of a real estate area – and we are doing ok. 

Let’s see what happens in August…which is usually a painfully slow real estate sales month.  Stay tuned for more sales data.  Go to my website www.propertiesbythebay.com to see what is currently for sale by community, or to request any other special report that you might be interested in seeing. 

In the meantime, enjoy these wonderful summer days.  We are so fortunate to live in the best area in the U.S.A.