Building “Affordable Housing”

Does the need for more housing that is affordable mean simply low-income housing? Projects that are being proposed focus on building small condos as the path to creating more affordable housing. That does not address what most residents want. If you look at the Santa Clara house prices vs. Santa Clara condo prices, you will see that the price of houses has been growing faster than condos. In fact, the price of condos has been essentially flat since 2018. The increase in mortgage interest rates would imply that recent condo buyers have higher payments but the demand vs. supply for condos is less than the demand vs. supply for houses, judging by price trends.

Reducing government fees and regulations is rarely done. Adding more fees and regulations is unfortunately the path our different governments take. Making housing more affordable is about removing costs, not adding them.

If our governements simply changed regulations to allow higher density housing, builders would probably mostly ignore studios and one-bedroom units and instead build three or more bedroom units. Doing that would make it easier to recover the building costs and would actually drive down the cost per square foot. (Kitchens and bathrooms are much more expensive to build than bedrooms.) Regulations that encourage building larger homes sounds like the government is helping those who are better off at the expense of those who are less well off, but is a studio condo or even a one bedroom condo appropriate housing for a family?

Is adding more regulations and spending more tax dollars on small housing units creating more housing that is affordable for families?

Building “Affordable Housing”

Does the need for more housing that is affordable mean simply low-income housing? Projects that are being proposed focus on building small condos as the path to creating more affordable housing. That does not address what most residents want. If you look at the Santa...

Median Days On Market

The roughly two-year-long pronounced difference in house price growth between Santa Clara County and cities near San Francisco invites us to examine other trends. The volatility of "days on market (DOM)" makes it a trend that is harder to use when looking for changes...

Proposition 19: Death Tax & Proposition 13 Slow Elimination

The average Silicon Valley Homeowner used to be able to leave his home to his children as part of his estate planning. There were tax advantages just as there are for inherited 401k plans. Many parents hope to create a family home or business that will help their...

Venture Capital Is Growing In Silicon Valley

The news media has reported both tech companies and venture capital firms leaving Silicon Valley. Indeed the percentage of all US venture capital activity has declined in the Bay Area over the last decade. However end of year 2020 venture capital data (from PitchBook)...

Renting Out Your Condo or Townhouse

Assembly Bill 3182 (Civil Code Section 4740 and Civil Code Section 4741) limits the restrictions common interest developments may impose on offering units for rent. It took effect Jan 1, 2021. A common interest development may cap the number of rentals to 25% or...

California Good Neighbor Fence Act

When deciding to fix or replace a property line fence, you need to understand the California Good Neighbor Fence Act. It makes both neighbors equally responsible for the cost of repairing or replacing a property line fence. A key requirement is that you have to notify...

Santa Clara Real Estate Trends

Santa Clara house price per sq.ft.

The plot of both average and median quarterly Santa Clara house prices will generally alert you to unusually high or low prices by the separation between the average and median prices changing.

Santa Clara house sales price vs. list price

Changes in the Santa Clara real estate market typically create significant changes in the sales price to list price. The list price is set by looking at recent sales prices. The comparison shows how well sales prices follow expectations.