Few real estate markets in the U.S. have soared higher over the past few years than Silicon Valley, the collection affluent towns in Northern California that are home to some of the world’s top tech firms.
And new housing data out today from Corelogic suggest the sharp rises in home values show no sign of abating.
In San Mateo County - home to Facebook and Oracle - the median price of a home rose 17.8 percent year-over-year in May to reach $1,207,500; in Santa Clara County - home to Intel and Whatsapp - the $940,000 median was up 7.4 percent. In the East Bay - home to Netflix and Pandora - the median rose 3.1 percent to $732,000 in Alameda County and 6.5 percent to $575,000 in Contra Costa County.
Sales rose in Alameda County by 6.6 percent on a year-over-year basis. However, they dipped 5.0 percent in Contra Costa County, 3.4 percent in Santa Clara County and 4.1 percent in San Mateo County.
"Low inventory continues to foster a pressure cooker environment in which prices edge higher," said Andrew LePage, research analyst with CoreLogic. “The drop in affordability over the past year is worse than the rise in home prices suggests.”
