You’ve probably heard the news regarding Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac: both of these government-sponsored enterprises were placed into conservatorship by the Department of the Treasury. This allows the Federal Housing Finance Agency to take up to an 80% stake in each of them. If needed, the government can add capital to both enterprises to maintain their financial well-being. While the long-term effects of this remain to be seen, for now it seems to have resulted in increased consumer confidence and lower interest rates.
In the local real estate market, recent trends have continued through the month of August: the number of pending sales in Santa Clara County increased to 1642, while the inventory dropped to just over 7000. Closed sales were down just a bit at 1146, but because of the number of pending sales, we are optimistic that the market will continue moving toward equilibrium and soon start to recover. Significantly, none of the local markets we track within the county had more than a year’s worth of inventory, a condition which we have not seen since 2007.
Here’s a look at the local markets within Santa Clara County. Figures represent months of inventory based on closed sales during the month of August 2008, using data from MLSListings, Inc. The lower the number, the more favorable the market is to sellers; the higher the number, the more favorable the market is to buyers.
Sellers’ Markets: Cupertino (2.1); Palo Alto (2.4); Los Altos (2.4); Mountain View (2.9)
Balanced Markets: Sunnyvale (3.1); San Jose-Cambrian (3.8); Milpitas (3.9); San Jose-Almaden Valley (4.0); Santa Clara (4.5); Saratoga (4.8); San Jose-Santa Teresa (5.1); San Jose-Berryessa (5.8); Los Altos Hills (6.0)
Buyers’ Markets: San Jose-Blossom Valley (6.1); Los Gatos (6.1); San Jose-Willow Glen (6.8); Campbell (6.8); San Jose-Evergreen (7.0); San Jose-Central (7.5); Morgan Hill/Gilroy (8.8); Los Gatos Mountains (9.6); San Jose-South (10.4); San Jose-Alum Rock (11.5)
Countywide: 6.0 months of inventory
