Strong Demand for Housing Continues Despite COVID

Here’s the latest from MLSListings Silicon Valley and Coastal Regions

– Single-Family Homes Market Overview

The SF Bay Area real estate market continued to show its strength during July, even in the midst of the COVID19 pandemic.

Median prices again rose across all five MLSListings counties compared to July 2019; the lowest gain was 7% in Santa Clara County, and the highest increase in median price was 19% in San Benito County.

Closed sales remained robust across the board, both month-over-month and year-over year.

Further displaying this resilience, median days on market dropped in every county except for San Benito and new listings coming on the market grew versus last year in all counties except for Santa Cruz.

Inventory stayed problematic in all counties, with 4 out of five counties showing year-over-year decreases.

Santa Clara’s inventory is 1/3 less than this time last year and Santa Cruz inventory is down by 35%.

While San Mateo showed a modest 12% gain in inventory, it is still at historically low levels.

Even with the strong demand, premiums paid (amount paid over asking) is close to 100% in all counties and steady with both last month and last year in all counties except for San Mateo, which saw a 4% drop in average premium paid, from 105% of list last year to 101% of list this year.