'Tis the season to be motivated.
Sellers list homes with prices designed to spread joy and buyers who hope to find shelter during the holidays typically respond with good tidings.
"You have a certain amount of seasonality. If the seller is motivated and you have a strong buyer, they can make the deal work, but not with a huge price reduction," said San Jose, CA broker, Colleen Badagliacco, the 2007 president of the California Association of Realtors.
Silicon Valley's housing market (which includes Santa Clara County) was showing its traditional seasonal best in November, as the median price for single-family detached homes remained at $775,000, just as it was in October.
The November median is 4 percent higher than it was last year at this time, but nearly 5.5 percent down from the $819,950 record median set in June this year, according to Richard Calhoun, real estate broker with Creekside Realty in San Jose and publisher of the Bay Area Real Estate Market Newsletter.
"The nice thing about the October, November, December market is that all the buyers and sellers that are now in the market are serious about doing something. The lookie-loos and the tire kickers are at the mall or outlet stores, putting sales together," said Steve Suchow, an associate broker at RE/MAX Valley Properties.
Buyers were showing a pinch more seasonal generosity, on average paying sellers 98.9 percent of the asking price, compared to the 98.8 percent in October. A year ago the average was 100.1 percent. When prices peaked in the summer, they were paying 100.6 percent of the asking price.
"Properties with excess prices have been squeezed out of the market, the seller is probably not on the market unless they have to be, Realtors have done a good job at getting the price straight and the media has done a good job letting the public know what's going on," said Badagliacco, broker and co-owner of RE/MAX Valley Properties.
Reduced inventories helped sellers hold the line on prices and selling time. From October to November inventories of single family homes fell from 3,708 to 3,099, compared to 2,747 a year ago. During the same period, the average number of days a home was on the market before it sold dropped from 54 to 52, compared to 32 a year ago, Calhoun reported. Again, reflecting the seasonal trend, sales of single family homes dipped from 892 in October to 870 in November.
"I'm holding my breath. I don't want to jinx the market and say it's back in dandy form, but buyers and sellers are getting it. I would have suspected the numbers (median price) would come in lower," said Edwin Resuello, president of the Santa Clara County Association of Realtors.
Resuello also said the mortgage market is giving seasonal buyers a boost. The average fixed interest rates fell to 6.11 percent in early December, according to Freddie Mac. The only time they were lower this year was in mid-January when the average came in at 6.10 percent.
"If your credit is perfect, you can get a fixed rate to come in at 5.78. Some buyers had put me off until the middle or late January. Now they are calling me," said Resuello, broker owner of Realty World-Silicon Valley in San Jose.
Condo sellers enjoyed more seasonal bliss as the median came in at $519,000 in November, up from a $490,000 October median, which, for the first time in years fell below the previous October's median.
The $29,000 price increase in November came even as sellers accepted, on average, only 99.1 percent of their asking price, down a tad from 99.3 percent in October, according to Calhoun.
Last November, when the median condo price was $475,000, sellers commanded, on average, 100.9 percent of their asking price.
Condo inventories feel from 1,443 in October this year, to 1,236 in November, compared to 991 in November last year.
Condo sellers taking less for their homes in a market with a tighter inventory helped boost sales from 375 in October to 390 in November with only a few more days selling time. Condos sold in an average 47 days in October and 50 days in November, compared to 30 a year ago.
Mark Burns, 2007 president of the Silicon Valley Association of Realtors, says the numbers show a normal seasonal market where flipping is out, but not necessarily multiple offers.
"If people think they can go in and buy and flip (sell within six months, hoping for a profit) them, they are going to make maybe $10,000 to $20,000, but some homes in the bottom range under $600,000 in Campbell and Santa Clara are suddenly getting multiple offers. In Cupertino, homes in the $700,000 to $750,000 range get a ton of attention," said Burns, broker at the Coldwell Banker Cupertino office on Stevens Creek Boulevard.
Granted, the multiple offers are two or three offers, rather than a dozen or more which was common during the height of the market, but the seasonal market is healthy, Burns says.
"We are in a normal market for December and I'm feeling optimistic. Next year will be better than this year. Not anything crazy, but 3 to 4 percent, not 5 or 6 percent (increase in home prices), but a nice, steady, good market," said Burns.
