Housing inventory up in Santa Clara County

The number of homes for sale rose more steeply last month in Santa Clara County than in any other of 13 counties included in a monthly report from a local realty brokerage.

The inventory of for-sale homes rose 9 percent in the county from July 31 to Aug. 31, to 6,412 houses and condos, according to a monthly report prepared by Redwood City-based Movoto. The second-highest increase was 5.3 percent in San Diego County, followed by a 4.1 percent uptick in San Francisco.

Movoto's report covered inventory levels and other measures of the real estate market's health in the 13 counties in which the brokerage operates in Northern and Southern California. The data come from the multiple listing services that serve those counties. Inventories were up everywhere except in Alameda, San Mateo, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, most of which saw only slight declines.

In Santa Clara County, inventory is rising in part because more buyers are hesitating, said Warren Winsness, president of the Santa Clara County Association of Realtors.

Movoto founder and broker Henry Shao said listings in San Jose are driving the county's overall inventory trajectory. Listings in San Jose are about double their level from three years ago, he said, while listings in Palo Alto and Saratoga, for example, are well below where they were in summer 2004.

Meanwhile, the average list price of homes for sale in Santa Clara County as of Aug. 31 fell 2.5 percent from a month earlier, to $857,048, Movoto said. Average list prices fell most in Contra Costa County, dropping 4 percent, and rose most in San Mateo County, up 2 percent.

List prices are the prices sellers hope to get for their homes. About one-third of Santa Clara County sellers in August got more than their list price when they sold their homes, according to data from San Jose broker Richard Calhoun of Creekside Realty.

Movoto's report also features an estimate of what percentage of homes for sale in each county are "distressed," as measured by whether terms such as "bank owned," "short sale" or "in foreclosure" are included in the comments entered by listing agents in the multiple listing service.

In Santa Clara County, those properties made up 11 percent of listings, up from 9 percent at the end of July. San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties had rates of about 10 percent, also up from 9 percent. Contra Costa and San Benito counties had the worst incidence of distressed properties, with 22.1 percent and 20.3 percent falling into the category, respectively.

Courtesy: http://www.mercurynews.com/