Los Altos Hills Market Conditions January 2016

• Inventory stays low
• Sales very low
• Prices down
• Much uncertainty

It was another very quiet month for real estate in Los Alto Hills. Uncertainty about the economy continued, leading to some concern that there may be a ‘reset” looming for luxury real estate. That hits Los Alto Hills in the bread basket, since the majority of homes here are priced over $3.5 million. Lower priced homes are in very strong demand, however, and Los Alto Hills could certainly use more sellers at that end of the market. What we are seeing is that homes that are priced right and presented well are seeing a lot of activity.

Only three sales closed in January, so it is difficult to draw conclusions about pricing. That being said, the median sales price in January was $4,175,000, up nearly 8% from $3,875,000 in December and a third higher than January 2016’s $3,140,000. Conversely, those three homes sold for 93% of their list price, on average, down from 99% in December and 101% a year ago. The price per square foot was also down, from $1,048 in December to $943 in January. It was the first time since July that the price per square foot was below $1,000.

Closed sales fell for the fifth straight month, peaking in August at 11 and sliding all the way down to three in January. Four sales closed in December, as well as in January 2015.

Inventory, while low, held steady at 27 units in January. That was two more homes than were on the market a year ago. Five sales went pending in January, unchanged from December and a year ago. A 5.4 month supply relative to pending sales was available at the end of January, the same as at the end of December.

Homes were on the market longer than in any month since January 2015. The current month’s sales were listed for an average of 95 days, compared to 27 days in December and 96 days a year ago.

Analysis by Price Range

There was not much inventory in the $3.5 million and under segment at the end of January (3 properties) and as a result, there weren’t many sales (2 went pending during January. Inventory and sales in this category has been declining since October. 11% of Los Altos Hills’ inventory was in this segment at the end of January, and despite the low sales number, 40% of pending sales were priced below $3.5 million. There was a 1.5 month supply at the end of January, down from two months at the end of December.

In the $3.5 million to $4,999,999 price range, one home was added to inventory to end the month with 12. That accounted for 44% of all inventory. Two sales went to contract in January, 40% of all sales. That resulted in a six month supply in the middle segment of the market, up from 5.5 months at the end of December.

12 properties priced at or above $5 million were actively listed at the end of January but only one sale went to contract during the month. This segment made up 44% of inventory and 20% of sales. A 12 month supply was on the market at the end of January.