Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Monte Sereno homes now average a cool million

By Clarence Cromwell

It's getting harder to find a house for less than $1 million in Monte Sereno.

The median home price remains above $1 million in the tiny city this month, where it's lingered for the better part of the past six months. For a long time, houses in this city have commanded higher prices than those in surrounding areas--$1 million homes aren't unheard of--but the current market has pushed the median past the million mark. The median is the price at which half the houses sold for more and half sold for less.

According to Realtor Phil Jacklin, there are two reasons behind the continued high housing costs. "One is the general economic good news; the other is that the Silicon Valley is probably the technological and economic boomtown of the world right now. There is no more land, and as a result, if people want to work here, they have to pay these prices. There's been a similar change in rents, which are also up 15 percent."

During the past six months, the median price for a Monte Sereno home was above $1 million for four months: $1.25 million in July, $1.69 million in April, $1.03 million in March and $1.22 million in February. In January, May and June, median prices were $865,000, $792,500 and $771,500.

Some buyers are willing to pay for the name, Jacklin said. "It's a uniformly expensive area," he explained. "That's why it has that mystique."

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