The Los Gatos real estate market trends are a seller’s market in most price points for worry-free properties (in good shape, good location, no major issues).
It’s almost like there are two main markets: one is for newer listings that are in great locations, great shape, and priced low. That is a market with multiple offers and overbids. The other market is for homes with issues, often location issues but sometimes condition or just being overpriced.
Home prices have come down 10-20% from the peak of the market. If a property has been on the market a long time, there’s a good chance that it will take more than that to get it to sell. It may be cheaper for the homeowners to instead fix the property up. Got foundation or termite issues? Correcting them may be more cost effective than another price reduction in the long run.
Our best data on housing is on our Live in Los Gatos blog, where we do a deeper dive on the Los Gatos real estate market.
This site also has a TREMENDOUS amount of information on Los Gatos neighborhoods. You won’t find more info anywhere else!
Los Gatos real estate market trends at a glance from the RE Report
Info for Los Gatos 95030 and 95032:
| Trends At a Glance | Jan 2023 | Previous Month | Year-over-Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median Price | $3,550,000 (+20.3%) | $2,950,000 | $2,875,500 (+23.5%) |
| Average Price | $3,364,740 (+16.7%) | $2,883,270 | $3,796,570 (-11.4%) |
| No. of Sales | 17 (+54.5%) | 11 | 22 (-22.7%) |
| Pending | 37 (-2.6%) | 38 | 37 (0.0%) |
| Active | 27 (-22.9%) | 35 | 20 (+35.0%) |
| Sale vs. List Price | 100.3% (+4.4%) | 96.1% | 113.4% (-11.5%) |
| Days on Market | 60 (+32.3%) | 45 | 27 (+123.6%) |
| Days of Inventory | 48 (-50.1%) | 95 | 27 (+74.7%) |
Next, some data from Altos Research, with data based on currently listed properties (not sold homes) by zip code. This will automatically update each week.
Los Gatos real estate market trends in 95030: schools and downtown proximity
The chart above represents the Los Gatos real estate market trends 95030 in Los Gatos (only, not Monte Sereno).
If you’d like to see the FULL weekly report, use the following link and save it, as it will be updated automatically every 7 days:
Altos Research Weekly Report for Los Gatos 95030
This part of Los Gatos has the Los Gatos Union School District and features locations closer to downtown Los Gatos than 95032 or most of 95033 (the Los Gatos Mountains area). For that reason, it’s a little pricier than other parts of town. With the higher prices comes a bit slower of a real estate market, so a milder market is not out of the ordinary.
Los Gatos real estate market trends 95032: schools and commute
The chart above represents 95032 based on list prices, not sold. The prices are significantly lower in this Los Gatos market, though it’s presenting as a strong seller’s market with much faster turnover compared to 95030.
The 95032 zip code in Los Gatos is more complicated than 95030 for a few reasons. First, part of it is in the Los Gatos Union School District, part is in the Campbell Union School District (west Los Gatos near the Saratoga and Campbell borders), and part is in the Union School District (shared with the Cambrian zip code of 95124 in San Jose). All are good to great schools at the elementary and middle school level. At the high school level, Los Gatos High will have a little more draw due to stronger scores than Westmont or Leigh High (in the Campbell Union High School District), so that part of 95032 will sell for a bit more.
Check out the Altos Research Weekly Report for Los Gatos 9503032 for more.
Additionally, since west Los Gatos is closer to Cupertino and Apple, and other high tech employment centers, that side of 95032 will sell for a little more than east Los Gatos – though that could change with the new Google complex in downtown San Jose.
Los Gatos real estate market trends 95033: mountains, schools, and affordability
The chart above updates regularly, displaying real-time changes in the market for Los Gatos Mountain area for 95033. Currently, it shows a slight seller’s market with the lowest market action across all 3 areas. This is typical for the mountain areas.
The Los Gatos Mountains area of 95033 enjoys great schools, beautiful mountain land, and a lot more house for the money than you’ll get “in town”. (There are some challenges, so it’s a trade off.) This is mostly a county pocket, and not part of incorporated Los Gatos, though some close in areas, such as Montevina Road, are both 95033 and “in town”.
Note how much lower the median list price is (as well as the price per SF) as compared to either 95030 or 95032! When many websites aggregate home prices in Los Gatos, they include 95030, 95032, and 95033 – the last one pulling the median or average price down to artificial levels if the consumer sees it thinking it’s an “in town” price.
Most of the time, as it appears today, homes in 95033 have much longer days on market than homes in 95030 & 95032. That being said, the homes here can vary wildly and when inventory or sales are low it can throw the data. It might be that if you compared homes listed between $1 and $2 million across these three zip codes, the marketability would look different.
Altos Research Weekly Report for Los Gatos 95033
What is selling fastest in Los Gatos?
Turnkey houses in areas with no issues and no major repairs or updating needed are selling fast. This is even more true if they are nicely remodeled and priced appropriately or a little under market value. Examples of issues include being too close to high voltage power lines or other negative elements. And, of course, they are in the lower pricing tiers of appx $2.5 million or less (or a little more, but usually under $3 million).
The highest priced homes over $3 – $6 million will sell better if they are in the Los Gatos Union School District. In a normal market, it is especially challenging to sell a very high end home in east Los Gatos with Leigh High, both because at that price point most home buyers want Los Gatos High, but also it’s a further commute to most employment centers closer to Palo Alto.
School districts aside, there will always be homes that are having trouble selling. Some of these properties have not been updated, have been over-improved for the immediate neighborhood, or were overpriced. Often the over-pricing is because of bad comps (market comparables), such as using numbers from a hot spring market instead of the cooler summer or fall / winter market, or when things like differences in lot size or school district within a neighborhood are not considered in pricing. It’s an easy mistake to make as the market is shifting.
The ultra luxury market over $5 million often struggles, though, no matter what school district it’s in. There just are not a lot of buyers wanting to spend or able to lay out that much money.
Resources for the Los Gatos Real Estate Market Trends
Here are some resources to help you better understand the statistics and market direction for our beautiful town, updated frequently:
A great overview of the statistics for the town of Los Gatos 95030 & 95032 can be found on our Real Estate Report by navigating to Los Gatos and then under “zips” choose which part of town you want to understand better. Or view the monthly market report on my Live in Los Gatos Blog.
On our Live in Los Gatos Blog, you’ll find an article updated often which considers the Los Gatos months of inventory, or the absorption rate, by price point and high school district. Here it is extremely clear that we have a consortium of realty markets, not just one market per se.
Additionally, I have a subscription to Altos Research, which provides market data based on currently listed homes for sale. Altos displays info by zip code, and those charts will be posted below. They are automatically updated each week, so please bookmark this page and return often.
Combined, these will provide a pretty comprehensive picture of the Los Gatos real estate market trends today.
Altos Research: Los Gatos 95030
Below are live updating charts. The first two here are the 90-Day statistics for Single Family Homes and then Condos in Los Gatos 95030.
As of the latest update (as of this writing, June 2021), Single Family Homes in 95030 are taking about 2 – 2.5 months to sell on average. With a small number of sales, though, this data can change quickly. Condos in this zip code are selling more slowly, in around 3 – 4 months.
The graph above shows the Median List Price for condos and homes in 95030. The condo market follows a more erratic path, though both generally follow the same trends. This chart clearly shows seasonally typical spring peaks and winter dips, although 2020 doesn’t follow these trends. Right now, prices are beginning to cool off again for condos while they’re heating up for single family homes as we enter summer.
The graph above compares the same two for total inventory. While the housing market has its ups and downs, the condo market is flat-lining with only a smidgen of inventory.
This chart shows a strong demand and generally rising prices.
And the last graph for this sector is the Median Market Action Index, roughly indicating how hot the market is. Condos are increasingly popular, but the single family home market is cooling.
Altos Research: Los Gatos real estate market trends 95032
Below are the Altos charts covering the 95032 zip code. Again, we’ll start with the 90-day statistics.
Homes are taking less time to sell here compared to 95030, coming in a little over 1.5 months, and condos are taking a little longer at around 2 months. Still, small data pools means these percentages could fluctuate quickly.
Above is the Median Price graph comparison between Condos and Single Family homes in 95032. They usually show similar trends, though this past year or so they have almost look inverted. Both condos and homes leveled off in the third quarter and have experienced some cooling since. Surprisingly, prices continued to rise through March and peaked around April – a little later than the in-town market.
The graph above shows that inventory in both houses and condos have barely increased since the start of spring 2021, not reaching anywhere near the volume of past years. Both are growing at the moment.
Last year, single family homes were stable in the price per sqft since around May, but condos fell from then through winter hitting a new low in 2021. Both have been climbing since around February 2021 with no signs of stopping.
Now we have one final Altos chart with the 90-day statistics for Los Gatos Mountains 95033:
Why do you get so much more home for your money in Los Gatos than in a similar place like Los Altos? Why are the Los Gatos Real Estate Market Trends milder than Palo Alto or nearby?
Silicon Valley has a concentration of high tech jobs close to Palo Alto, Mountain View, Sunnyvale and nearby, plus many others in Santa Clara, north San Jose and Cupertino. Los Gatos is not the “closest in” for most of these companies (Netflix excluded!). Traffic here is pretty terrible, especially on highway 85, so being a little further out has kept the Los Gatos housing market somewhat less in demand than our neighbors to the north like Cupertino and Los Altos. This is especially true for east Los Gatos, which is more dependent on Highway 85 south of 17. Even so, it’s not a far commute to Apple. With everything that this town has to offer, prices here are really a very good deal for what you get!
For more information on the Los Gatos real estate market trends which are relevant to your property, or the one you’d like to buy, please contact me. I would be happy to meet with you and discuss working together so that you can get the best deal possible with the current climate.
Please also visit my Silicon Valley real estate report, which includes info on all the cities and towns in San Mateo County, Santa Clara County, and Santa Cruz County. Here’s the link to the Los Gatos page. Also view the Los Gatos real estate market report on my SanJoseRealEstateLosGatosHomes.com site.
Browse Los Gatos homes for sale on the Live in Los Gatos blog.
Los Gatos homes for sale – view by map on the Live in Los Gatos blog.
