Golden State homebuyers enjoyed additional leverage in January, with extra inventory to choose from, falling prices, and more sellers reducing their expectations.
Research from realtor.com says that that the number of homes for sale in the San Jose metropolitan area was up by 128 percent from January 2017, the largest such gain of any of the 50 tracked housing markets. Though the median list price for a home in San Jose dipped by 9 percent year over year — the biggest decrease in the country — the region is still America’s most expensive, at $999,494.
Similar trends played out in San Francisco and Los Angeles, where inventory rose by a respective 58 percent and 36 percent from one year earlier. Both cities posted 1 percent annual depreciation, with list prices ending January at $837,525 in San Francisco and $699,950 in Los Angeles.
All three of those California cities saw an uptick in price cuts from January 2018: San Jose (9 percent), Los Angeles (5 percent), and San Francisco (4 percent). As further evidence of rebalancing market conditions between buyers and sellers, homes in San Jose lasted on the market for a median 27 days longer than they did at the beginning of last year, with the pace of sales also increasing in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
