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Prices Still Rising In Orange County

Prices Still Rising In Orange County

Prices continue to show gains for the areas of Newport Beach, Corona Del Mar, Newport Coast and Laguna Beach.  Most areas have surpassed their peak prices that occurred in around 2007.  Will prices continue to rise?  It seems the high end luxury homes have slowed a bit but the inventory still is at low levels.  There have been some high priced sales on the sand and one property in Dana Point just sold for $13,500,000 that was at 31 Beachview Avenue.  So, the summer could be a little slow, but as I tell my buyers, it’s a great time to offer as there is less competition.

 

Why So Many Chinese Buyers in Palo Alto and Along the Peninsula?

Why So Many Chinese Buyers in Palo Alto and Along the Peninsula?

Everybody reads about the large supply of Chinese buyers who are buying homes here along the Peninsula.  There are many agents, one prominent one who we all know and now has a plane to fly his Chinese buyers around, who target the Chinese buyers very heavily.  Buy, why are there so many Chinese buyers and why are they buying here?

We all marvel at the prices being paid and the recent appreciation of 30% per year for the past couple years.  For those of us who live along the Peninsula, you may be surprised to know that real estate in Palo Alto, Atherton and Menlo Park may be a bargain when compared with other international locales. Heck, we aren’t even as expensive as New York.  Who would have thought 10 years ago that an investor from Shanghai might find a Manhattan penthouse affordable? Of the 10 most expensive cities in the world, New York is the only one from the U.S., said a recent report from England-based real estate consultancy Knight Frank and researcher WealthInsight. Monaco, Hong Kong, London, Singapore and Geneva all outranked New York. Sydney, Paris, Moscow and Shanghai rounded out the list. San Francisco, Palo Alto and Atherton, not even on the list.

In Hong Kong, which saw double-digit real estate price increases from 2009 to 2012, the average luxury home was valued at around $11,000 per square foot, the global real estate firm Savills said in a 2012 report. Yes, $11,000 per square foot! London, with its own booming real estate market, averaged $5,300 per square foot, while New York checked in at $4,100. Atherton and Palo Alto generally sells for $1,500  to $2,000 per square foot, quite a deal compared to the big guys.

For the 12 months ended in February, 788 homes worth more than $10 million each were sold in the U.S., according to real estate website Zillow. Slightly more than half were in the Los Angeles and New York areas. San Francisco, south Florida and Colorado ski resorts Aspen and Vail also saw some of the most-expensive transactions. Chinese Buyers, in particular, Chinese homebuyers increasingly are buying up high-end property in the U.S., Realtors said. China’s strong economic growth has generated dozens of billionaires and thousands of millionaires in recent years. They are attracted to America’s stronger property rights and a relatively stable political and economic climate, according to the National Association of Realtors.

So, why are so many Chinese buyers scooping up luxury properties? Because they are rich and prices here are a deal and they have property rights that might be hard to come by in their own country.  Hard to blame them.

With the worldwide economy getting better, I can’t see much of a slowdown to the pace of buying from our overseas friends.  Gary Kurtz of Alain Pinel in Menlo Park has Chinese buyers that he has never met but converse with on a regular basis and are looking for investment homes here in the Atherton area.  I find lots of Atherton and Palo Alto off market homes and I know they will make a relatively quick decision and buy without seeing as they trust my word and insight into the market.  It seems to be a win-win situation for sellers, Chinese buyers, agents and all in the luxury real estate industry.

 

Atherton Now Most Expensive City In USA

Atherton Now Most Expensive City In USA

Yes, it was only a matter of time, but it finally happened.  Forbes declared Atherton’s 94027 as the most expensive zip code in the country. For those of us who live here, we knew this was coming.  Especially since about 40% of sales are off market in Atherton so we think it’s been number one for a while.  Due to the volume of buyers from China, more properties are actually going on to MLS where they can be seen on various websites the Chinese buyers look at.

The median home price is $9.4 million, up from $6.6 from last year.  The first quarter of this year has recorded 7 sales over $10 million dollars  and there are many listed now from 10-50 million dollars (on and off market).

The crazy thing is also that Menlo Park is now moving quickly up the price ranks as well.  Just as an example, today on tour there were 10 new listings all over 2 million dollars and the highest is $5.85 million.  Just last year, Menlo Park was averaging in the $1.6 price range and that is also surging.

Prices across the board are up 30% from last year, so what was unaffordable last year to the average person is even more over the top this year.  There are still multiple bidding wars going on for properties at all price points.  Take for example the property that was on broker tour in Atherton last week for 14 million and is being quoted as being bought sight unseen by a Chinese buyer.  The fact of the matter is that an agent I toured it with actually bought it right after tour and before I could bring my clients by to see it.  I knew it would go fast, but I wasn’t expecting it to go that fast.

Overall, luxury real estate is alive and well and especially along the Peninsula in cities like Atherton, Palo Alto, Menlo Park and Los Altos hills.  There are still more buyers than sellers, but hopefully some more inventory will start to hit soon.  My buyers are getting frustrated!

Alain Pinel Realtors Now Number 5 in Nation

Alain Pinel Realtors Now Number 5 in Nation

Not to toot our own horn, but Real Trends named Alain Pinel Realtors the number 5 largest broker in the nation with sales of over $10 billion dollars for 2013.  Not bad considering we are a regional company that is still privately held.  We have 29 offices and I would say a large percentage of the deals are coming from Menlo Park, Palo Alto and Los Gatos areas.  Our office is typically the number one or two office for the company as we have about 70 agents in our office and typically total over a billion dollars in sales annually.

Since I’m in the Menlo Park office, I have an affinity to Menlo Park, Palo Alto, Atherton, Woodside areas as my home territory but do expand to surrounding areas such as Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Saratoga, Portola Valley, Mountain View and wherever is appropriate for my buyers and sellers.

Luxury real estate is my passion as is the company and our agents.

Billionaires Living In Palo Alto

Billionaires Living In Palo Alto

The highly anticipated Forbes list of billionaires shows that an unusually high number of them own Palo Alto real estate.

Ten of those billionaires live there to be exact.  Palo Alto real estate has been surging all year, now with the list showing that 10 billionaires live there, I’m guessing even more people from around the world will want to check out the real estate market and see what it’s all about.

The highest ranking billionaire to live in Palo Alto is Larry Page of Google, whose net worth is estimated at 23 billion.  Not bad for a 39 year old guy who looks like he’s about 20.  I think he owns the entire top floor of the condos on Alma street, so that is one nice penthouse condo.

Mark Zuckerberg comes in at the second highest ranking billionaire to live in Palo Alto and has a net worth of $13.3 billion.  He bought the house from an agent at our company last year and it’s just a nice home in a nice area and he didn’t go crazy with a mega mansion.

Laurene Powell, wife of the late Steve Jobs, comes in next on the list of Palo Alto billionaires and holds a net worth of $10.7 billion.  They have lived in the house on Waverley Street for many years and recently completed a renovation after Steve’s death.

Seven other billionaires from the Forbes list own Palo Alto real estate that they call home and can be read by clicking on the link below.

Palo Alto real estate billionaires

I have met or worked with several of the billionaires on the list and know the on and off market listings in Palo Alto quite well.  If you are in need of an agent to buy or sell a home,  please don’t hesitate to contact me at 650.543.1202 or gkurtz@apr.com for a confidential conversation.

 

Atherton Real Estate owned by several of the Forbes Billionaires

Atherton Real Estate owned by several of the Forbes Billionaires

The Forbes Billionaires list shows that the richest people in the United States call Silicon Valley home and several own real estate in Atherton.

Atherton real estate is owned by Eric Schmidt of Google, whose net worth is estimated at $8.2 billion,  Charles Schwab, financial broker,  at $4.3 billion, George Roberts of KKR at $4.1 billion and Meg Whitman of HP/ebay at $1.9 billion.  Charles Schwab’s home is listed by my office at Alain Pinel and can be seen if you are an interested buyer, please give me a call.  Meg Whitman is a neighbor of mine and I know her house is not currently on the market, but we’ll see how it goes at HP this year!

Atherton real estate is obviously a good investment as the smartest and the richest have put their money down in this prime area. For the complete list of billionaires and where they live, see the link below.

Forbes US Billionaires

I work with a lot of high end clients who want their privacy respected and are interested to buy and sell real estate in Atherton via “off market” transactions as well as on market.  If you are interested in buying or selling, please don’t hesitate to contact me at 650.543.1202 or gkurtz@apr.com.

 

 

 

Los Altos Hills Real Estate Highest Price in Santa Clara County

February 2, 2013 Real Estate News No Comments
Los Altos Hills Real Estate Highest Price in Santa Clara County

Santa Clara County real estate showed gains across the board in numbers very similar to San Mateo County.  The key number to note is that the average price of a home was up in 2012 by 12% to an average of $839,000.  The biggest jump in prices came from the city of Monte Sereno where home prices were up 18% to an average of $2.031,000.  Los Altos Hills took the prize for highest average sale price with a whopping $3,077,000.

 

Santa Clara County

2011 2012 % Change
Number of Sales 11,094 11,974 8%
Average Price ($000) $747 $839 12%
Average DOM 72 51 -29%
Months of Inventory 0.1 0.0 -100%

 

Los Altos

2011 2012 % Change
Number of Sales 307 365 19%
Average Price ($000) $1,778 $1,979 11%
Average DOM 39 31 -21%
Months of Inventory 0.1 0.0 -100%

Los Altos Hills

2011 2012 % Change
Number of Sales 100 112 12%
Average Price ($000) $2,694 $3,077 14%
Average DOM 84 81 -4%
Months of Inventory 0.3 0.2 -33%

Los Gatos

2011 2012 % Change
Number of Sales 331 374 13%
Average Price ($000) $1,386 $1,539 11%
Average DOM 77 52 -32%
Months of Inventory 0.2 0.1 -50%

Los Gatos Mountains

2011 2012 % Change
Number of Sales 88 101 15%
Average Price ($000) $664 $766 15%
Average DOM 141 115 -18%
Months of Inventory 0.4 0.2 -50%

Monte Sereno

2011 2012 % Change
Number of Sales 25 32 28%
Average Price ($000) $1,723 $2,031 18%
Average DOM 104 91 -13%
Months of Inventory 0.3 0.1 -67%

Mountain View

2011 2012 % Change
Number of Sales 283 324 14%
Average Price ($000) $1,003 $1,128 13%
Average DOM 38 22 -42%
Months of Inventory 0.1 0.0 -100%

 

Palo Alto

2011 2012 % Change
Number of Sales 451 475 5%
Average Price ($000) $1,758 $2,019 15%
Average DOM 32 23 -28%
Months of Inventory 0.0 0.0 #DIV/0!

 

Saratoga

2011 2012 % Change
Number of Sales 274 376 37%
Average Price ($000) $1,650 $1,770 7%
Average DOM 69 66 -4%
Months of Inventory 0.2 0.1 -50%

 

Atherton Luxury Real Estate Prices on The Rise

January 4, 2013 Real Estate News No Comments
Atherton Luxury Real Estate Prices on The Rise

Home sales and prices of Atherton real estate took a healthy jump for the year 2012 at a slightly above average 12 percent.  Atherton real estate has one of the highest average prices in the country at just over $4.5 million dollars.  So far in 2013, we are seeing a surge in mega priced homes that will be hitting the market soon in the over 50 million dollar range.  Atherton real estate is held by many a VC, CEO and tech giant who might be living behind those closed gates leading to properties well over one acre.

Atherton

2011 2012 % Change
Number of Sales 73 82 12%
Average Price ($000) $4,125 $4,626 12%
Average DOM 78 60 -23%
Months of Inventory 0.2 0.3 50%

Woodside Real Estate Down, All Others Up

January 3, 2013 Real Estate News No Comments
Woodside Real Estate Down, All Others Up

Woodside real estate figures were the only blip on the charts with negative numbers while all other areas of San Mateo County showed gains in real estate prices and sales numbers. Woodside has been stagnant except for a 100 million dollar sale by a Japanese businessman. The huge off market number did not affect the charts as the sale happened off MLS. San Mateo county real estate prices were at a healthy 10% rise across the board.

Portola Valley

2011 2012 % Change
Number of Sales 70 62 -11%
Average Price ($000) $2,256 $2,405 7%
Average DOM 80 68 -15%
Months of Inventory 0.1 0.3 200%

Redwood City

2011 2012 % Change
Number of Sales 535 593 11%
Average Price ($000) $755 $842 12%
Average DOM 72 48 -33%
Months of Inventory 0.1 0.1 0%

Redwood Shores

2011 2012 % Change
Number of Sales 49 72 47%
Average Price ($000) $982 $1,061 8%
Average DOM 30 27 -10%
Months of Inventory 0.1 0.0 -100%

San Carlos

2011 2012 % Change
Number of Sales 278 317 14%
Average Price ($000) $960 $1,072 12%
Average DOM 44 35 -20%
Months of Inventory 0.1 0.0 -100%

San Mateo

2011 2012 % Change
Number of Sales 595 680 14%
Average Price ($000) $807 $871 8%
Average DOM 54 38 -30%
Months of Inventory 0.1 0.0 -100%

Woodside

2011 2012 % Change
Number of Sales 99 83 -16%
Average Price ($000) $2,504 $2,077 -17%
Average DOM 111 85 -23%
Months of Inventory 0.4 0.4 0%

 

 

San Mateo Country Real Estate Sales Up in 2012

January 2, 2013 Real Estate News No Comments

Menlo Park & Atherton Photos_0033Homes sales in San Mateo County took a decent jump in 2012 with the number of sales up 10% for the entire county and the average price was up 7% to almost $995,000.  It’s amazing to think that it’s almost a million dollars to buy an average home anywhere in San Mateo country.

San Mateo County

2011 2012 % Change
Number of Sales 4,646 5,130 10%
Average Price ($000) $932 $995 7%
Average DOM 68 49 -28%
Months of Inventory 0.2 0.1 -50%

My Contact Information

Gary Kurtz
949.565.5201
gkurtz@homgroup.com
BRE# 01710776

Kathy Kurtz
714.394.2676
kathyk213@aol.com
BRE# 01876966

HOM Sotheby's International Realty
1200 Newport Center Drive, # 100
Newport Beach, CA 92660

949.565.5201 (cell)
949.478.7769 (office)
650.796.5507 (Silicon Valley #)

Contact me now with any questions:
gkurtz@homgroup.com

Kurtz Real Estate Group




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Real Estate Insider Video Show

Alain Pinel Realtors Silicon Valley

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Alain Pinel Realtors Silicon Valley

We at Alain Pinel Realtors have been releasing high quality videos that give buyers a feel for different areas. Today, we released the Silicon Valley video. Take a look. If you are looking for luxury real estate all along the Peninsula and Silicon Valley in areas such as Los Altos, Saratoga, Monte Sereno, Palo Alto, […]

Palo Alto Real Estate Update

February 3, 2012

Palo Alto Real Estate Update

The numbers are strong for real estate in Palo Alto with this month’s sales figures.  Watch the video to see all key sales numbers for the month of January 2012 compared to January 2011.

Menlo Park Monthly Real Estate Sales Figures for October 2011

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Menlo Park Monthly Real Estate Sales Figures for October 2011

The average sales price of a home in Menlo Park fell 7.8% for the month of October 2011 compared to October 2010.  The total number of sales for both periods were similar, which is good news, but the home prices were a little lower than expected.  The surprise number is that the average price per […]

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Prices Still Rising In Orange County

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Why So Many Chinese Buyers in Palo Alto and Along the Peninsula?

May 22, 2014

Why So Many Chinese Buyers in Palo Alto and Along the Peninsula?

Everybody reads about the large supply of Chinese buyers who are buying homes here along the Peninsula.  There are many agents, one prominent one who we all know and now has a plane to fly his Chinese buyers around, who target the Chinese buyers very heavily.  Buy, why are there so many Chinese buyers and […]