Home prices and sales surged in the past month in Southern California thanks to a surge in demand, record-low mortgage rates, and a limited supply of homes. According to a report by DQ News/CoreLogic, the median home price for all sales in the region was $599,500 in January.
Housing demand high than listings pushing prices up
Over the past year ending January, home prices across the six counties in the region increased 13%. This made January the sixth consecutive month that there have been double-digit gains. Equally, sales strengthened climbing for the seventh month running. Sales volume increased 13.5% to around 17,352 transactions which is the largest tally in 14 years. According to CoreLogic numbers, the double-digit gains in sales and prices have only occurred 41 times in almost three decades.
Coldwell Banker Town and country in Redlands agent Dianne Speaker indicated that the market is currently crazy because of the few listings available. She said that the number of buyers is more compared to listings, which is the reason the prices are high. The housing market continues to defy the pandemic-induced downturn as buyers rush to leverage record-low mortgage rates and acquire homes.
Ensemble Real Estate buys property in Santa Clara
With the promising housing market, developers in Santa Clara have bought a site there is a proposal to build hundreds of homes. The section is slated for massive housing projects and is located near 2263 Calle Del Mundo in Santa Clara. The residential project comprises 316 units in an eight-story building according to plans submitted by Ensemble Real Estate Investments. Documents filed by the Long Beach-based company, indicate that it acquired one of the parcels of land combined to provide space for the residential project. The company paid $8 million for the parcel, according to Santa Clara public records.
Closed Fish Market restaurant property to be converted into affordable houses
Equally, the development of several affordable homes has been earmarked in San Jose on the site where a restaurant closed operations. The proposed project, which will sit on where Fish Market restaurant has been operating for almost two decades, will be 100% affordable. The restaurant shuttered because of COVID-19 pandemic-related economic woes. The restaurant was sitting in a 1.9-acre space, and it is located at 1007 Blossom Hill.
If the affordable housing project is realized it will serve as an example of how shuttered businesses can revitalize properties. Jemcor Development Partners proposed the project, and they have other affordable projects and market-rate residences.
Zillow Group upgrades its virtual tour feature
Real estate giant Zillow Group has upgraded its virtual tour experience Zillow Surfing with machine learning capabilities to pull together media content with an enhanced floor plan. The idea is to enhance the experience of homebuyers to view a property without physically visiting it. Zillow’s VP Rich Media Experience team Josh Weisberg said that the upgrade will allow homebuyers to have an enhanced and authentic sense of the house without physically visiting.
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