In Santa Clara County, the easier conditions people associate with fall buying arrived as the spring peak faded, by late summer, and they held through October. They showed up as less competition for each home rather than more homes to choose from.
In April 2025, the county's median single-family home sold in 8 days, according to the California Association of Realtors, and sellers received 107% of list price, according to the Santa Clara County Association of Realtors. By October 2025 those figures were 10 days and 104%.
I'm Haiyan Fu, a Realtor® with Keller Williams Bay Area Estates, and I work with buyers and sellers across Santa Clara County. Here's what the local monthly data says about when the fall's easier footing actually arrives, and what it doesn't change.
How does the fall compare with spring for buyers in Santa Clara County?
The clearest difference is competition for each home. Spring is when competition here runs strongest, and the gap between list price and sale price is widest then. By late summer that gap had narrowed, and it stayed narrower through the end of the year.
Month | Median price (C.A.R.) | Median days on market (C.A.R.) | Months of supply (C.A.R.) | Share of list price received (SCCAOR) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
April 2025 | $2,121,000 | 8 | 1.9 | 107% |
August 2025 | $1,900,000 | 13 | 1.9 | 102% |
October 2025 | $1,950,000 | 10 | 1.5 | 104% |
December 2025 | $1,830,000 | 14 | 1.0 | 103% |
August 2026 | $1,900,000 | 12 | 2.1 | 103% |
Sources: California Association of Realtors monthly sales releases (median price, median time on market, Unsold Inventory Index) and Santa Clara County Association of Realtors monthly reports (% of list price received), single-family homes, for the months shown. The two organizations measure differently, so read each column against itself rather than across.
The city figures move the same way. Comparing April and October 2025, SCCAOR's share of list price received went from 115% to 110% in Sunnyvale, 113% to 109% in Santa Clara, 110% to 106% in Cupertino and 107% to 103% in San Jose. A median price also reflects which homes happened to sell that month, so a lower fall median isn't the same as a given home costing less.
Does the fall bring more homes to choose from here?
Not in this county. SCCAOR's monthly reports counted 1,177 single-family homes for sale in April 2025, 888 in October and 375 in December, and C.A.R.'s months of supply slipped from 1.9 to 1.5 to 1.0 over the same months. Fewer new listings arrive as the year winds down, so the selection thins even as the pace eases.
Realtor.com's seasonal analysis, which looks at listing data from 2018 through 2025, puts the San Jose–Sunnyvale–Santa Clara metro's most buyer-friendly week in the second half of October, about three weeks after the national one. In that week, homes have historically sat about 20 days longer than at the peak, with listing prices about 8.3% below it, while new listings run about 15% below the metro's average. That fits the 2025 monthly figures above: October combined the calmer pace of late summer with a selection that hadn't yet thinned the way it did in November and December.
How common are price cuts in Santa Clara County?
Less common than national coverage suggests. Redfin found that 11.1% of San Jose metro home sales in February 2026 had a price cut between the original and final list price, against 34.2% nationally. Price cuts do follow a seasonal pattern nationally, and Redfin notes that May had the lowest share in six of the past ten years. Here they start from a much lower base, and October 2025's 110% of list in Sunnyvale and 106% in Cupertino suggest many homes there still drew competing interest.
So the fall's advantage in this market is mostly room to think: a little more time on each home, fewer bids far above asking, and a better chance of a second visit before deciding. For someone hoping to be settled somewhere new for the holidays, that can make the fall a comfortable time to look. The path itself doesn't need rushing: a conversation with a lender, some unhurried time looking, and a few weeks of escrow once the right home turns up. And if the new year or the spring suits you better, that works too; the trade there is more selection alongside more competition.
Bottom Line
In Santa Clara County, buyer conditions eased from the spring peak by late summer and held into October, with homes taking a little longer to sell and fewer selling far above list. What the fall didn't bring was more homes; selection thinned toward the end of the year. How those county-wide figures play out depends a great deal on the city, the price range and the particular homes you're watching.
If you're thinking about buying this fall and would like to see how recent sales in Sunnyvale, Cupertino, San Jose or elsewhere in the county compare with the homes on your list, I'd be glad to talk it through. You can call or text me at (650) 201-7338.
