Home prices in Sunnyvale consistent, moderate to start 2015

Sunnyvale kicked off 2015 with single-family home median list prices that were quite moderate, not only in comparison to prices in other Silicon Valley communities but also in terms of price trajectory trends.

In January 2015, the median list price for homes was $1,043,500, down from $1,091,500 in December and $1,098,000 in November. The price in January was the lowest since April of last year, when it was $996,500.

The median list price tells buyers the dollar figure that’s exactly between the highest listed price and the lowest listed price. So if you have two homes, one priced at $3 million and the other priced at $1 million, the median price would be $2 million. But that would hold true if there were 40 homes at $3 million and one at $1 million. The median price would remain at $2 million.

Still, over a period of time, the median list price statistic is a good barometer of the general value of homes in an area, and watching it month to month can give us an idea of the direction prices are taking, if any.

In Sunnyvale, there wasn’t a whole lot of direction in home prices in 2014. The price rose a mere 132,500 throughout all of last year, with monthly figures hovering in the low-$1 millions for nine of the 12 months.

A more significant gain was observed in 2013, when the median list price of homes traveled from $734,444 in January to 949,444 in October before falling in December to $812,350. That number didn’t last as the market saw gains of $146,650, $185,650 and $275,650 to the median price in the first three months of 2014.

The $1,043,500 price in January 2015 comes after a 2014 full-year average of $1,070,666. By Silicon Valley standards, that’s extreme price stability.

And it’s also a pretty moderate price. Look at some other median list prices for January 2015:

Mountain View: $1,468,000
Cupertino: $1,524,000
Menlo Park: $1,847,500
Portola Valley: $2,545,000
Palo Alto: $2,788,000
Woodside: $3,735,000

And look at some of the most expensive homes currently for sale throughout Silicon Valley:

Woodside: $69,800,000
Atherton: $28,000,000
Atherton: $19,980,000
Woodside: $15,556,000
Los Altos Hills: $15,000,000
Atherton: $14,980,000
Woodside: $13,900,000
Palo Alto: $11,988,888
Los Altos Hills: $8,900,000
Los Altos: $5,850,000

Currently the highest-priced home in Sunnyvale is $1,599,999. For many buyers, that’s definitely a bargain.

Hadar Guibara
Silicon Valley Real Estate