The Saratoga real estate market, found in the midst of Santa Clara County in the San Francisco Bay Area, saw a sharp rise in the rate of foreclosure as well as a steep drop-off in the number of home sales. This may partially be a result of the expiration of the federal housing tax credit, but the decline is still sharper than expected. According to an August 12, 2010 article from the San Jose Mercury News, "Foreclosures jumped in July in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties, mirroring a statewide trend, but the number was down from a year ago, according to a report released Thursday. Santa Clara County had 363 foreclosures, a 20 percent increase over June, but 12 percent below July 2009....There were 645 new notices of default in Santa Clara County and 236 in San Mateo County, drops of 10 percent and 25 percent, respectively. It is now taking almost two years on average for lenders to foreclose on a home after the borrower first misses a payment, said Sean O'Toole of ForeclosureRadar...The number of homes in "foreclosure limbo" -- in which a bank has filed a notice of sale but hasn't sold the home at auction -- continued to decline, down 7 percent in each county. But the number remains high -- 4,103 homes in Santa Clara County and 1,445 in San Mateo County."

Fewer Saratoga homes for sale were purchased in the month of July, mirroring the trend of the Bay Area Peninsula. An August 18, 2010 article also from the Mercury News noted that "After steadily rising for several months, Peninsula home sales plummeted to near-historic lows in July as demand remained tepid and the federal homebuyer tax credits that had helped caffeinate the marketplace in the past year finally went away. San Mateo County saw 463 sales of single-family resale homes, the lowest for a July in 20 years. In Santa Clara County, the 1,159 single-family resale homes that closed escrow represented a drop of 24.3 percent from the 1,531 sold a year earlier, making this the second-slowest July since 1990, according to figures released Thursday by the real estate information service MDA DataQuick. And even though median prices rose in July from a year earlier, with a 7.2 percent rise in San Mateo County and an 8 percent increase in Santa Clara County, there are signs that recent home-price appreciation is losing steam."

The Santa Clara housing market, found in the Bay Area of California, saw a generally positive but still mixed picture in the month of June. Although the median price of a Santa Clara home for sale increased in that tracking period, home sales were mixed, with numbers increasing over last month but not the previous year. According to a July 16, 2010 piece from the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal, “The number of homes sold in the Bay Area [increased] from month-to-month in June but were down from a year ago, as a reduction in the number of foreclosure sales helped to boost the median price, according to a report released Thursday. MDA Dataquick reported a total of 8,373 homes closed escrows in the nine-county Bay Area, up 1.3 percent from 8,264 in May but down 3.1 percent from 8,644 in June 2009. The month-to-month increase was below the 3.9 percent average seasonal increase Dataquick has seen since it began reporting in 1988…The median paid for all new and resale houses and condos combined was $410,000, the same as in May and up 16.5 percent from $352,000 in June 2009. This marked the ninth straight increase in year-to-year median prices. The typical monthly mortgage payment that Bay Area buyers committed themselves to paying was $1,709 last month, down from $1,739 the previous month, and up from $1,585 a year ago.”

In Santa Clara and the rest of Silicon Valley, the average price of a single-family home rallied substantially in the month of June. A July 15, 2010 report from the Mercury News stated that “In a mixed report on the Santa Clara real estate market, MDA DataQuick reported today that prices climbed last month in Santa Clara County, but the number of sales dropped from a year earlier. According to MDA DataQuick, Santa Clara County's median resale single-family home price last month was $600,000 — edging up 2.6 percent from May and climbing 23.7 percent from June 2009. The number of transactions, though, dropped 8.4 percent year over year. Throughout the Bay Area, more higher-end homes sold than a year earlier, when the market was dominated by a wave of lower-priced foreclosure sales…In Santa Clara County, the median condominium price was $340,000, up 17.2 percent from June 2009. The number of transactions was 0.2 percent lower.”

The Morgan Hill real estate market, found in the Silicon Valley section of the Bay Area, is facing a mixed prognosis during the second half of the fiscal year. Local experts seem to be seeing some signs of improvement, although financial difficulties and reluctant banks have compounded problems started by the foreclosure and mortgage crises. An August 2, 2010 piece from the Silicon Valley Community Newspapers stated that “In mid-July, as interest rates reached historic lows, Mortgage Bankers Association reported mortgage applications jumped as demand for home purchase loans rose for the first time in five weeks and demand for home refinancing loans reached their highest level in 14 months. The four-week moving average of mortgage applications increased 4.9 percent, and the industry group's index of refinancing applications was up 8.6 percent. Jumbo loans are getting cheaper and easier to obtain these days. Banks report over the last two months, the number of applications and funding for jumbos rose anywhere between 10 percent to 30 percent…On the other hand, doom-sayers point out that new home sales year-over-year fell 16.7 percent in June and that the June sales pace is the second slowest ever on record since 1963, when the commerce department began tracking the information. Also in June, new home construction fell 5 percent from the previous month and on a year-over-year basis, housing starts were down 5.8 percent.”

Recently, fewer Morgan Hill homes for sale are the product of bank auctions and san Jose foreclosures. This is because of a complex deadlock between delinquent homeowners and banks overloaded with foreclosed properties. According to an August 5, 2010 article from the San Jose Mercury News, “Foreclosure is certainly taking longer than it used to. According to figures from ForeclosureRadar, for the California homes that were foreclosed on in June, it took an average of 234 days from the "notice of default" to the time the property was foreclosed. That's nearly eight months on average - meaning some homeowners stay in their homes much longer. In January 2007, the average time to foreclose was a little more than four months. New state laws have built more time into the foreclosure process, adding a requirement that lenders try to contact borrowers in person before they are allowed to file a notice of default, for example. Between legislated timelines, delays because lenders are swamped with loan modification cases, and possible strategic delays on the part of banks, many homeowners can stay put, payment-free, for months on end.”

A neighborhood within the city of San Jose, California, Almaden Valley is home to about 37,000 residents and lies in San Jose's southwestern area. The area is just southeast of Los Gatos, and is considered to be part of the heart of the high-tech Silicon Valley, famed for its multitude of technology, research, venture-capital and scientific services firms. The Almaden Valley area is home mostly to modest houses and is a decidedly middle-class neighborhood. The area was recently affected by the downturn in the greater U.S. real estate market, especially in California, and as a result the past couple years have seen foreclosures in San Jose rise while home prices fell to the lowest levels in years. Recently, however, the Almaden Valley real estate market seems to be staging a comeback.

According to MLS statistics, the median price for homes for sale in Almaden Valley in June, the most recent month for which statistics are available, was $875,000. That figure represents a 5.6% drop from May 2010 but it also accounts for 11.5% increase year-over-year; in June 2009 the median price was just $785,000. The average price was down on both counts, however. The average sales price in June was just under $913,500, down 2.8% from May and down a slight 1.2% from June 2009's figures.

Sales volume in the valley fell by nearly half from the previous month in June. There were 29 homes sold, down from 54 homes sold in May. However, this figure remained unchanged from June 2009. The number of properties pending sale has remained nearly constant, with 45 in June, compared with 51 in May and 45 in June 2009. The inventory of Almaden Valley homes for sale has cleared out a bit since last year. During June, there were 108 properties listed for sale, an increase of 13.7% from May, but down 12.2% year-over-year; there were 123 homes listed for sale last year at the same time. The days homes spend on the market before selling has improved since May, when that figure was 44 days. In June, the figure was 34 days, though that is up slightly from June 2009's average of 31 days.

As the third-largest city in California and one of the top 10 largest cities in America, San Jose, California, no doubt has a competitive and robust real estate market. The city, which is the county seat of Santa Clara County, is home to more than 964,000 residents and is the anchor city of the famed high-tech Silicon Valley area. The city's residents tend to be quite wealthy: In 2007, median annual household income was measured to be nearly $77,000, the highest level for an American city with more than 250,000 residents. This wealth tends to push up home prices, making San Jose real estate a coveted acquisition. Because demand and prices are high, the San Jose market was hit by the downturn in the greater U.S. real estate market, causing foreclosures in San Jose to rise and prices to fall. Lately, the market seems be finding its footing again, though.

In June, the market for homes for sale in San Jose saw some mixed signals. The market for single-family homes saw new listings and inventory rise year-over-year as more homes flooded the market. According to the monthly statistics compiled by the Santa Clara County Association of Realtors, the inventory in June stood rtyhjjmmmat 2,525 versus 2,171 a year earlier. There were 1,029 new listings, compared with 866 in June 2009.

Meanwhile, sales volume was down, with 588 homes sold in June versus 694 sales last year, as was the average number of days home spent on the market before selling, which stood at 56 days, down from 90 days one year ago. Both the median and average sales prices were up annually, though, a positive sign for homeowners wanting to sell their homes in the near future. The average sales price in was around $594,000, up from $503,660 a year ago; the median price stood at $523,500 in June, up from June 2009's clip of $449,000.

The condo market saw similar trends in San Jose. New listings and total inventory both rose on an annual basis, from 303 to 347 and from 888 to 1,198, respectively. Sales rose slightly this June to 212 from 206, while the average number of days condos spent on the market before selling fell to 86 from 120. Prices for San Jose condos rose significantly year-over-year, an encouraging sign for sellers who have been waiting on the sidelines for prices to rise again before listing their properties. In June, the average sales price was around $323,800 up from around $285,125, while the median sales price was $307,500 up from $240,000.

The Milpitas housing market, a subsidiary of the larger Santa Clara County, Silicon Valley, and Bay Area real estate markets, faced mixed signals in the most recent tracking period. The Silicon Valley region in particular seems to have picked up some steam despite disappointing value valuations. A July 15, 2010 article from the San Jose Mercury News stated that “It's still a trickle — the number of Bay Area homes sold last month inched up from May, while still falling short of a year ago. But the median price of the previously owned, single-family homes that changed hands in Santa Clara County was $600,000, up 23.7 percent from June 2009 and 2.5 percent from May 2010, according to figures released Thursday by MDA DataQuick. That was the highest since July 2008, when the county's median house price was $646,500. San Mateo County showed an 8.4 percent jump from June 2009, from $599,500 to $650,000. But while Realtors report a return to stability in the market, there are crosswinds, as well. On one hand, the impact of the now-expired federal homebuyer tax credits continues to fade, adding a drag to homebuying activity. At the same time, the price jump was helped by fewer foreclosures re-selling and more action at the big-money end of the market. While recent reports show an increase of foreclosures at the high end of the market, there are more non-foreclosure sales of expensive houses as well, said DataQuick President John Walsh.”

However, Milpitas houses for sale continue to drop in property value, which has both positive and negative aspects. On the one hand, it signals that the recession continues to have negative effects, while on the other it means that housing is more affordable. According to KLIV 1590 News, “The effects of the recession continue to be felt here in Santa Clara County. New numbers from the assessors office find that over the past year, the net assessed value of all real and business property declined by 2.43 percent or $7.4-billion dollars. Assessor Larry Stone says the pain was felt across 14 of the county's 15 cities, with Palo Alto being the exception. Stone says that if there is any silver lining, it's that home prices are more affordable now, than they've been in a decade.”

The Los Gatos real estate market, found amidst the larger Santa Clara County and Bay Area housing markets, faced mixed signals in the most recent tracking period. Even as the median price rallied somewhat, the number of single-family houses sold decreased substantially compared to June 2009. Additionally, even expensive properties were beginning to be hit by the foreclosure crisis. According to a July 13, 2010 report from the Mercury News, “The foreclosure crisis, now well into its third year, has moved upscale as a growing share of people in homes worth at least a million dollars fall behind on their mortgage payments. Those upper-end houses accounted for nearly 6 percent of the notices of default — signifying the owner is three months or more behind on payments — sent out by lenders to Santa Clara County homeowners so far this year. In San Mateo County, about 4 percent of the million-dollar-plus houses received notices of default this year. The Santa Clara County numbers are up from 3.3 percent in 2008 and 5.2 percent last year. Job loss and mortgage debt began to crush the high end in 2009, when 811 valley homes worth a million dollars or more received default notices, according to an analysis of foreclosure data. That compares with 397 default notices in 2008 and 207 in 2007.”

The mixed picture for Los Gatos homes for sale as well as the Bay Area at large was reflected in a July 12, 2010 article from the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal. The piece noted that “The number of homes sold in the Bay Area from month-to-month in June but were down from a year ago, as a reduction in the number of foreclosure sales helped to boost the median price, according to a report released Thursday. MDA Dataquick reported a total of 8,373 homes closed escrows in the nine-county Bay Area, up 1.3 percent from 8,264 in May but down 3.1 percent from 8,644 in June 2009. The month-to-month increase was below the 3.9 percent average seasonal increase Dataquick has seen since it began reporting in 1988…The median paid for all new and resale houses and condos combined was $410,000, the same as in May and up 16.5 percent from $352,000 in June 2009. This marked the ninth straight increase in year-to-year median prices.”

The Los Altos housing market, a largely residential portion of the Bay Area real estate market, showed possible signs of weakening after the expiration of the federal and state homebuying tax credits. Although the average median price of a Los Altos home for sale increased, the number of units sold decreased compared to year ago levels. According to a July 15, 2010 article in the Mercury News, “Bay Area home sales in June fell off slightly from a year ago with the expiration of federal home buying tax credits that had helped spur home buying activity. At the same time the prices rose in response to sales of fewer foreclosures and more high-end properties. In June, a total of 8,373 new and existing single-family homes and condominiums closed escrow, up 1.3 percent from May, but down 3.1 percent from June 2009, said a report released Thursday by MDA DataQuick. The Bay Area's median price was $410,000, unchanged from May, but 16.5 percent higher than a year ago. June was the ninth consecutive month that saw median prices rise on a year-to-year basis, but the median price was still 38.3 percent below the $665,000 peak in June and July 2007. In Alameda County, 1,664 homes changed hands in June, a 5.1 percent decline from a year ago, while the median price rose 19.4 percent to $400,0000. In Contra Costa County, 1,729 homes changed hands, a 4.8 percent decline from a year ago, while the median price rose 13.4 percent to $283,500.”

The next few months should be telling for the Los Altos real estate market, as a non-stimulus driven economy begins to fall into place. According to John Walsh, the president of MDA DataQuick, “The next few months should be very interesting. We're about to see how well the housing market can fly on its own. The tax credits no doubt stole some demand from the rest of this year, and soon we'll have a better sense of just how much. The Bay Area market is getting a boost from super-low mortgage rates and a slightly friendlier lending environment for high-end borrowers. But, barring new government stimulus, the housing market will be relying very heavily on improvements in the economy. A lot will depend on how many people find jobs, or stop worrying about losing the one they have."

The Cupertino real estate market, part of the larger Santa Clara County and Silicon Valley housing markets, showed strong signs of improvement in the month of May despite a property valuation report reflecting the weakness of last year. According to a June 17, 2010 article from the San Jose Mercury News, “In the latest sign that Silicon Valley's housing market is slowly heading toward normal, the median price of houses sold in Santa Clara County jumped last month to the highest level since before the stock market collapse of late 2008, driven by the sale of more higher-end homes and fewer lower-priced, post-foreclosure deals. The median price of the previously owned, single-family homes that changed hands last month was $585,000, up 23 percent from May 2009 and 6.4 percent from April 2010, according to figures released Thursday by MDA DataQuick. That was the highest since August 2008, when the county's median house price was $592,750. The steep rise in prices is not a sign that the values of individual homes are regaining their boom-time levels. Instead, it means that the mix of homes sold has changed significantly from last year, when lower-priced, post-foreclosure homes were more prevalent.”

However, San Jose properties, including Saratoga homes for sale, marked a sharp decline in value from the last fiscal year. According to a July 1, 2010 article from the Morgan Hill Times, “The total assessed value of properties in Santa Clara County made an unprecedented decline this year, with Morgan Hill real estate and Gilroy real estate seeing the largest drop in property values than any other city in the county. Based on property assessments announced by the Santa Clara County Office of the Tax Assessor Wednesday, the total assessment roll in Morgan Hill decreased from last year's value of about $6.6 billion, to about $6.2 billion this year - a 6.1 percent decline, according to assessor Larry Stone. The assessment roll in Gilroy dropped by the same percentage, from about $6.1 billion to $5.7 billion. Countywide, the total decline in property values was 2.43 percent, or a drop of $7.4 billion. The county's total assessment roll this year is $296.47 billion, Stone said.”