All-time high for San Mateo County’s median home prices in 2024

“The condo buyer is usually more [interest] rate-sensitive and … a single fam home buyer will have more liquidity than the typical condo buyer,” Compass Realtor Raziel Ungar said. “I don’t think it’s a supply issue on the condo market.”

Inflation cooled as the year progressed, and the Federal Reserve cut interest rates twice starting in September, however, 15- and 30-year fixed rate mortgages have mostly continued to climb since the rate cut. While the mortgage rates are still lower than 2023 highs, as of Jan. 9, the 15-year rate is the highest it’s been since July.

Between continuously low inventory and a strong stock market — which results in more liquidity for employees of large technology and life science firms — more buyers were able to put down more in cash, Ungar said.

The number of home sales throughout the county was also higher than last year but still marked the second-lowest listing volume in at least 20 years. The trend is almost the opposite for luxury homes, which have consistently seen higher volumes since 2020 compared to prepandemic.

“2023 was the fewest number of sales since at least 2001, and then in 2024, that was the second fewest number of sales, so when you have so few transactions happening … and you have interest rates double what they were 24 to 36 months before, and prices were still so strong, that’s pretty impressive,” Ungar said.

The Los Angeles fires will also likely wreak havoc on an already volatile home insurance market. Many insurers have ceased writing new policies in the state altogether, and increasingly more neighborhoods are deemed hazardous areas per companies’ own fire risk maps. Even before the devastating L.A. fires, about 33% of suburban home buyers in the county said they had difficulty purchasing insurance last year, compared to 17% the year before, according to Compass data.

“Buyers are way more sensitive to this than they were even 24 to 36 months ago. We now advise all buyers, prior to running an offer, to get multiple quotes for insurance to make sure they can get a policy and it’s a policy they feel comfortable with,” Ungar said. “We didn’t do that a few years ago.”