According to Bloomberg, the demand for the most expensive homes in the valley is cooling.
For instance:
- In Palo Alto, homes costing more than $5 million were sitting on the market for a median duration of 16 days in April, versus 11 last year and 10 in 2014. So far in May, that median has stretched to more than 30 days.
- In Los Altos, just next door, there were six $5 million homes on the market for an average of 25 days as of mid-May.
- In Atherton, one of the most expensive Silicon Valley suburbs, there were 25 $5 million-plus homes on the market for an average of 100 days as of mid-May.
- In Santa Clara county, where all these suburbs are, only 13 $5 million-plus homes sold in the first quarter, versus 20 years ago.
The reason: slowing VC investments in tech companies, combined with a slower economy in China, where a lot of buyers came from.
That's not to say that there's some kind of real estate bust happening. The average house prices in the area are still among the highest in the country - around $970,000 for the San Jose metropolitan area. And the average time on market for the rest of the country is 67 days.