Valley real estate: calming down, but still expensive

By Frank Michael Russell
Mercury News Assistant Business Editor

The real estate market in Silicon Valley and the Bay Area slowed significantly in December, according to a report released today by DataQuick Information Systems.

That doesn't mean homes here in the greater San Jose area are actually becoming affordable or anything, but it does mean a break in the frenzied, fiery hot market of the past few years.

``Demand still seems to be there, but the sense of urgency seems to be a thing of the past,'' DataQuick President Marshall Prentice said in a statement. ``We don't expect the market to tumble, but we do expect price increases to level off between now and spring.''

The median price for an existing single-family home in Santa Clara County dropped to $700,000 from $715,000 the month before. However, the December price was still up nearly 15 percent compared with a year ago.

DataQuick noted 2,305 sales of existing single-family homes and condominiums in the valley in December, down 12.4 percent compared with a year ago and down 3.7 percent compared with the month before.