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.