When personal finance company WalletHub recently compared 1,300 American cities with populations between 25,000 and 100,000 based on affordability, economics, health, education, safety, and other indicators, Los Altos and Palo Alto ended up in the 95th percentile, just behind Livermore as the highest-ranked California small cities. See the full list here.
Despite a huge spike in mortgage interest rates buyers are still actively shopping for their next homes. And even though inventory remains sparse, current rates are pressuring some sellers to lower their prices to make their homes more affordable. Recent national data found that 5.9% of homes for sale in August experienced price cuts, and September saw even more sellers (6.5%) posting reduced prices.
We recently rolled up to Lake Tahoe for an economic summit with our Compass family and found a hot market where median sales prices are up, inventory is high, and vacation homes are flying off the shelves!
The Census Bureau recently released data from their American Community Survey (ACS) for 2022, and some interesting numbers pop out in Santa Clara County. For example, 62% of households are single family homes, and 60% of housing units were constructed prior to 1980.
An astounding 41% of the county’s residents are foreign born, and 55% speak a language other than English at home, making this one of the most diverse communities in the country — and the world.
According to data from the California Association of Realtors, the Bay Area’s year-over-year house price appreciation rate went green for the first time in more than a year in August. This followed a dip of nearly 20% caused by a post-pandemic market correction.
