“The demand just outstrips supply,” said Jeffrey Neidleman, an Oakland agent and president of the Bridge Association of Realtors. The Alameda County market has reached record levels. But Rao has also seen some older residents resisting the urge to sell and downsize, limiting the available homes for sale. He sees Silicon Valley buyers more interested in accessory dwelling units for in-laws or rental income. “Today’s buyers are all qualified to buy $2 million homes,” said Cupertino agent Ramesh Rao. In many attractive markets, homes are selling within a week or two of being put up for sale. Rising prices have cooled some demand, agents say, but deep-pocketed buyers continue to pursue suburban properties. Agents are rolling up a record year while affordability scrapes to near record lows. Although cities decimated by past pandemics, including the 14th century's Black Death, usually prospered in time, today the widespread availability of instant communications makes cities much less important to conduct day-to-day business for up to 45 of the country’s workforce. households have enough income to buy a home.Īgents say Silicon Valley’s high prices have been driven by well-paid tech workers, low interest rates and a scarcity of homes for sale. During past pandemics, there were rapid advances in public health, patient care, quality of housing and even art. A decade ago, about 45% of families could fit a Bay Area home purchase into their budget now, just 22% can afford it.īy comparison, roughly half of U.S. The median household income needed to purchase a Bay Area home rose to $235,000 in September, nearly triple the wages needed in early 2012, according to the California Association of Realtors. The run-up in Bay Area prices has made it the least affordable region in California. U.S and Bay Area housing supply could be further pinched by shortages of material and labor to build new homes, she said.Īs prices climb, more prospective buyers have been shut out. Prices in Santa Clara County climbed 16.5% to $1.55 million, jumped nearly 11% in San Mateo County to $1.74 million, and rose 11.6% to $1.75 million in San Francisco, according to the real estate data and services company.ĬoreLogic economist Selma Hepp said the increasing Bay Area prices could be due to the growing number of expensive homes selling. Alameda County - up 20% to $1.15 million from the same month last year - led the boom, followed by Napa (up 19% to $825,000) and Solano (up 18% to $555,000) counties. “Once again, Silicon Valley real estate is defying gravity.”Īcross the Bay Area, home prices continued to surge in October, with all nine counties reporting double-digit growth and pushing the median price of an existing single family home to $1.12 million, according to CoreLogic data. “We went $1 million over the asking price and we weren’t even close,” said Wong, a Compass real estate agent in Saratoga. But the home, on a one-acre lot, drew 16 offers and sold for $6.75 million. Hoping to overwhelm other buyers, Wong’s client bid $6 million.

The property went up for sale at just under $5 million. Mark Wong recently had a client fall hard for a 5,000 square foot home in Los Altos Hills - big yard, great schools, plenty of room for family and a remote office.

Bay area housing bubble 2021