Benford Real Estate, Silicon Valley, Santa Clara County

Here’s a link to a great blog entry I came across recently. It captures the essence of what I’ve been saying since before the market downturn: The decision to buy a house or condo should not be based on the state of the economy, but on whether you are personally and financially ready to make a long-term investment in real estate. Regardless of the market conditions when you buy or sell, history tells us that the longer you own property, the more likely it is that it will appreciate in value during your ownership.

Click here to find out why the best time to buy a house depends not on the economy but on you, and only you.

By the way, if purchasing is still beyond the near future for you, financial advisors and mortgage planners are an invaluable asset. We’ve worked with some very courteous and reliable professionals in these and other industries. If you’d like a referral, we’d be happy to put you in touch.

For all the talk about the financial crisis, October was a pretty stable month for the Santa Clara County housing market. It’s still a bit of a buyer’s market at 6.7 months of inventory. The number of homes for sale at the end of the month was down slightly to 6666, from 6724 at the end of September. The number of pending sales was virtually unchanged, and the number of closed sales was exactly 1000, down noticeably from September’s 1130. This may be in part due to longer escrow periods related to pre-foreclosure or foreclosed homes, and in part due to sales falling through for financing reasons or simply because the buyers are changing their minds.

Remarkably, even though high-priced parts of the valley that were significant sellers’ markets at the beginning of 2008 have slowed down, lower-priced parts of the valley that were significant buyers’ markets have picked up slightly. This is probably because conforming loan interest rates have remained relatively low while jumbo loan interest rates have increased significantly. The county as a whole is still less of a buyers’ market than at this same time a year ago.

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 October 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.

Balanced Markets: Cupertino (3.4); Mountain View (4.3); San Jose-Cambrian (4.5); Sunnyvale (4.8); Palo Alto (5.0); San Jose-Blossom Valley (5.3); Los Altos (5.4); San Jose-Berryessa (5.5); San Jose-Santa Teresa (5.5)

Buyers’ Markets: Milpitas (6.2); Campbell (6.2); San Jose-South/Seven Trees/Edenvale (6.9); San Jose-Evergreen (7.1); San Jose-East/Alum Rock (7.4); San Jose-Almaden Valley (7.4); Saratoga (7.6); Santa Clara (7.8); San Jose-Willow Glen (7.8); San Jose-Central/Downtown/Burbank/Rose Garden (8.4); Morgan Hill/San Martin/Gilroy (9.7); Los Gatos (11.0)

Significant Buyers’ Markets: Los Altos Hills (17.0); Los Gatos Mountains (19.0)

All of Santa Clara County combined: 6.7 months of inventory