Los Alto Hills Market Conditions May 2014
- Prices trend down for second month
- Inventory of $3 million-plus homes increase
- Pending sales rise
The median sales price, average price per square foot and sales price/list price ratio all fell for the second straight month in May. Overall inventory remained low but increased in the upper end of the market. Pending sales increased but not by much.
The median sales price of a single family detached home in Los Altos dipped $38,000 or 1% in May to $3,005,000 from $3,043,000 in April. May’s median price was also below the level of a year ago ($3,300,000) by $295,000 or 9%. However, May 2013’s median sales price was abnormally high. The average sales price per square foot fell $19 or 2%, from $899 in April to $880 in May. That was still $12 per square foot higher than in May 2013. The sales price to list price ratio also fell, from 101.1% in April to 100.5% in May. The ratio was 99.3% a year earlier.
Eight sales closed in May, the same number as in April. That was only about half the volume from a year ago, when 15 sales closed.
12 sales went into contract in May, three more than in April and one more than a year ago. Inventory increased by six units to end May with 27, a 29% increase over April’s 21. May’s ending inventory was the most here since October of last year. Inventory relative to pending sales was unchanged from Aoril at about 2.3 months. That compares to 4.6 months a year ago.
After trending downward for the past several months, the number of days homes were listed increased in May. May’s closed sales were on the market for an average of 46 days, 30 more days than April’s 16 and 24 more days than May 2013’s 22 days.
Analysis by Price Range
Four homes priced under $3 million were actively listed at the end of May, three less than at the end of April. That was a third the number of a year ago, when 12 homes were on the market in this segment. Seven sales went pending in May, one less than in April. Inventory relative to pending sales stood at 0.6 months at the end of May, down from 1.1 months at the end of April and 1.6 months a year ago. Only 15% of Los Altos Hills’ inventory was priced under $3 million, while 58% of its pending sales were in this segment.
The inventory of homes priced from $3 million to $4,999,999 more than doubled, from five at the end of April to 11 at the end of May. That was still less than half the number in this price range a year ago (23). Four sales went pending during May, two more than in April. 2.8 months of inventory was available at the end of May, up slightly from 2.5 months at the end of April. This price range accounted for a third of Los Altos Hill’s pending sales in May and 41% of the inventory at the end of the month.
12 properties priced at $5 million and up were actively listed at the end of May, up from nine at the end of April. 12 properties were also available in this segment a year ago. One sales went into contract in May, the same as in April. This segment made up 44% of the available inventory in Los Alto Hills at the end of May and 8% of the sales that went pending during the month.
