Sunnyvale Market Conditions December 2014
- Virtually no inventory – lowest in over a decade
- No homes under $750,000 available
- Pending sales fall but are surprisingly strong
- Prices mostly flat from November
The inventory of available homes for sale in Sunnyvale just keeps falling but it can’t really go much lower than the five homes on the market at the end of December, the fewest in at least 10 years. What’s surprising is that sales have remained relatively strong, given the lack of inventory. That is telling us that just about anything that comes on the market is selling quickly. Prices were virtually flat from November but much higher than a year ago.
December’s median sales price was $1,215,000, little changed from $1,218,000 in November but 13% higher than December 2013’s $1,077,500. The average price per square foot was 1% higher in December at $785 than November ($776). December’s average was $127 higher (19%) than a year ago. On average, December’s sales were for 109% of the list price, unchanged from November but higher than December 2013’s 107%.
Closed sales actually increased from 40 in November to 52 in December, reflecting the strength of demand and the relatively high level of pending sales that past couple of months.
Only five properties were actively listed at the end of January, the lowest level of inventory in at least ten years (I didn’t look back any further). December had about a fifth the inventory as November (26) and was even lower than a year ago, when only seven homes were on the market. 32 sales went pending in December, down only ten from 42 in November. That’s a high number of sales given the low level of inventory. Inventory relative to pending sales fell from 0.6 months at the end of November to about five days at the end of December
Homes were on the market for an average of only 17 days in December, one less day than in November and seven less than a year ago. The average for 2014 was about 16 days, an indication of how hot the Sunnyvale market has been all year.
Analysis by Price Range
For the first time, no homes priced under $750,000 were actively listed in Sunnyvale. Just a few years ago, there were 50 or more homes on the market in this segment in any given month. One year ago, three homes were available. Even with this extremely low inventory, seven sales went to contract in December, 22% of the city’s total.
The inventory of homes in the $750,000 to $1,299,999 was only a little higher, with three at the end of December, ten less than at the end of December. 17 sales went pending in December, the same as in November and seven more than a year earlier. Inventory relative to pending sales fell from 0.8 months at the end of November to 0.2 months at the end of December. This price range accounted for 60% of Sunnyvale’s inventory and 53% of its pending sales.
In the $1.3 million and up market segment, inventory was cut sharply, from nine at the end of November to two at the end of December. Pending sales dropped six units, from 14 in November to eight in December. 40% of Sunnyvale’s inventory and 25% of its pending sales were priced at or above $1.3 million. A .025 month supply was available at the end of December, down from 0.6 months at the end of November.
