Willow Glen Real Estate Market Prices, Trends and Forecast 2023

Willow Glen is a highly competitive real estate market and will remain so for the rest of 2023. It's a gorgeous neighborhood! Many homes here were built in the early 1900s, and residents enjoy a classical, historic aesthetic as they roam the community.

The Willow Glen neighborhood is family-friendly, located a few miles from downtown Willow Glen. There, residents enjoy a host of events, including:

Those events are in addition to the typical California downtown offerings, like coffee shops, cafes, boutiques, children's stores, and more.

Overall, Willow Glen is very child and pet friendly. It's not uncommon for shop owners to provide water bowls for dogs on a hot summer day, and you'll see strollers and bicycles parked on the tree-lined sidewalks around the downtown area.

Willow Glen neighborhoods are primarily composed of custom or semi-custom homes in various architectural styles. Many gorgeous architect-commissioned houses are found here, including Victorian, Neoclassical (Queen Anne Cottage and Neocolonial), Craftsman, Colonial Revival, Mission, Spanish Eclectic, and Tudor styles. These neighborhoods are a feast for your eyes.

If you love the ocean and enjoy water sports, you'll appreciate a quick 40-minute drive to the beach from your Willow Glen home. Willow Glen is home to avid boaters, surfers, and anglers who take advantage of the close coastline all year.

If water sports aren't your thing, Willow Glen is considered bikeable and walkable. Electric bicycles are also becoming incredibly popular in this neighborhood. During the early morning hours, it's not uncommon to see joggers and dog walkers getting their steps in.

As of June 2023, Willow Glen homes are selling for a median sale price of $1.6M, down 9.24% from last year's median pricing. The average price per square foot in Willow Glen is $978, down 3.6% since last year. In the previous year, the most expensive homes in Willow Glen sold for around $6M, and the lowest-priced home sold for $675,000.

The housing market in Willow Glen remains active. Most homes sell within ten days of their initial listing.

Overall, the California residential real estate market is beginning to cool after a few years of remarkably rapid growth and sky-high prices. This is good news for would-be homebuyers attracted to this quaint community. Still, home prices in Willow Glen will remain among the most expensive in the state.

The Willow Glen real estate market was affected by COVID-19. California endured two years of stay-at-home pandemic status, bolstered by state stimulus payments and additional grocery funds for school-aged children. With more money in their pockets — and few ways to spend it outside the home — the CA real estate market ballooned during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The extra funding has stopped, and Californians are venturing out again. This trend isn't limited to California; home prices are slowly dropping everywhere in the nation.

Ultimately, Willow Glen real estate prices are decreasing but remain quite high compared to other California neighborhoods.

Willow Glen is an ideal community if you're looking for a quaint, family-friendly, bikeable neighborhood. If you're hoping to invest in real estate to fix and flip, there are very few opportunities in Willow Glen.

There are 28,376 homes in Willow Glen. The bulk of them were built during the 1920s and 1930s. These century-old homes are stunning but may come with building code compliance issues.

For instance, an inexperienced investor or first-time home buyer may be surprised to discover asbestos flooring when they pull up old carpets. We now know that asbestos is dangerous, so these floors must be replaced before a home can be sold or rented. Real estate investors interested in flipping Willow Glen homes should also pay close attention to the following:

Between the high real estate prices in Willow Glen and the costs of labor and building materials post-pandemic, investors hoping to flip a home will likely find better opportunities elsewhere unless they find a gem of a foreclosure deal. However, if you're hoping to find a charming, small-town neighborhood within a reasonable commute to employment in the greater San Jose area, Willow Glen is a fantastic place to call home.

Foreclosures in Willow Glen are comparatively rare compared to the U.S. overall and the rest of California. Los Angeles leads the state, with 700 foreclosures in early 2023.

U.S. foreclosures have jumped 22% in the U.S. since this time last year, according to a report by real estate analytics firm ATTOM. While still below pre-pandemic levels, foreclosure activity has increased for 23 months.

This trend reflects higher jobless rates, ongoing economic challenges, and backlogged foreclosures since the lifting of government interventions, which helped struggling homeowners during the pandemic, according to ATTOM CEO Rob Barber.

Of all 50 states, California is ranked second among total foreclosures, just behind Florida. Still, Willow Glen foreclosure statistics are difficult to source because they are uncommon. This is likely because most Willow Glen homeowners work in the tech sector of Silicon Valley, where employment has remained stable over recent years.

Ultimately, Willow Glen is a beautiful, quaint, charming neighborhood with easy commutes to San Jose and convenient beach access. Home prices here reflect that beauty and convenience. If you're looking for a new community, it's among California's most sought-after for many reasons.

However, older homes and fixer-uppers can come with particular challenges. It's essential to deal with a reputable real estate agent to navigate the process of touring and purchasing an older home in Willow Glen.

Contact Sheila Santwani if you'd like to learn more about this charming, friendly community. Sheila has lived in Willow Glen for over 20 years and will help you discover the perfect home or investment opportunity in Willow Glen.

_{*Header photo courtesy of Shutterstock}