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Mountain View ended 2014 with a median for-sale price on single-family homes that pushed into the $1.5 million bracket for the first time in more than two years. The median price for homes in December was $1,516,500.
December’s figure was up $193,500 from November’s median of $1,323,000.
This move past the $1.5 million mark helped the fourth quarter median for-sale price to reach $1,425,833. Median prices for the other quarters of 2014 were:
Q1 Jan.-March: $1,304,166
Q2 April-June: $1,230,925
Q3 July-Sept.: $1,396,000
The median for-sale price is the initial asking price that falls exactly between the highest-priced and the lowest-priced homes at a given time. Based on the level of competition for homes, some sell for above their listing prices, while some sell for below.
Even with sold prices that can fluctuate from listing prices in either direction by 10 percent or more, the median for-sale price statistic gives us a good barometer of the direction in which prices are moving.
Mountain View home prices have enjoyed a consistent rise since January 2013, when the median for-sale price was $999,999. Two months later, in March, the median hit $1,099,000 and never dropped back into six figures.
The December homes inventory tightened considerably
As prices have continued to rise, the number of available homes has remained somewhat consistent over the last two years — until December 2014. The month-to-month average inventory of homes in 2014 through November was 42. In December, it bottomed out at 18.
December 2012 saw 31 homes available. In December 2013, there were 33.
A total of 11 homes were sold in December, spending an average of 17 days on the market (DOM). The DOM average was consistent with the majority of months in 2014, except for January, when sold homes were actively listed for an average of 65 days before being bought.
While the total number of homes available, as a group, always sits on the market longer than sold homes, we can see that buyers are remaining aggressive in going after the properties they consider prime deals.
With a median for-sale price jump from $1,098,000 in December 2013 to $1,516,500 in December 2014, it will be interesting to see if next December’s prices push against — or surpass — the $2 million mark.
Hadar Guibara is a Realtor with Sereno Group of Palo Alto. She can be reached at hadar@serenogroup.com.
