Luxury home sales in Silicon Valley dipped in August but the median sale price edged higher over the previous month and a year ago, according to Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, the South Bay’s leading provider of luxury real estate services. 

A total of 207 homes sold for more than $1 million in Santa Clara County last month, essentially flat from the previous month’s 208 transactions but down from the 221 sales recorded in August 2010.

However, the median sale price of a million-dollar home in the South Bay climbed to $1,387,000, up 2.7 percent from the $1.35 million median sale price recorded in July and August of last year.

Other metrics also showed the high-end market continues to recover: There were 41 multi-million-dollar sales last month, up from 34 in July and 36 in August 2010. And sellers received 100 percent of their asking price on average, up from 98 percent a year ago and 99 percent the previous month.

Luxury home sales in Silicon Valley dipped in August but the median sale price edged higher over the previous month and a year ago, according to Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, the South Bay’s leading provider of luxury real estate services. 

A total of 207 homes sold for more than $1 million in Santa Clara County last month, essentially flat from the previous month’s 208 transactions but down from the 221 sales recorded in August 2010.

However, the median sale price of a million-dollar home in the South Bay climbed to $1,387,000, up 2.7 percent from the $1.35 million median sale price recorded in July and August of last year.

Other metrics also showed the high-end market continues to recover: There were 41 multi-million-dollar sales last month, up from 34 in July and 36 in August 2010. And sellers received 100 percent of their asking price on average, up from 98 percent a year ago and 99 percent the previous month.

The figures were derived from Multiple Listing Service data of all homes sold in Santa Clara County for more than $1 million last month.

“The luxury segment of the Silicon Valley housing market continues to strengthen, along with the high-end markets in other parts of the Bay Area,” said Rick Turley, president of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage. “Both sales and prices are firming up in the South Bay, San Francisco, the Peninsula and Marin County. That could be a leading indicator of how the overall market will fare in the months ahead.”

Turley noted that the high-end market often recovers first following a downturn. Last month, DataQuick, the La Jolla-based real estate research firm, reported that overall sales in the Bay Area last month rose 12.2 percent, although the median price dipped 3.9 percent.

Some key findings from this month’s Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage luxury report:

• The most expensive sale in Santa Clara County last month was a five-bedroom, nine-bath 6,400-square foot home in Los Gatos that sold for $5.2 million;
• Los Altos boasted the most million-dollar sales last month with 43, followed by Palo Alto with 33, San Jose with 32, Saratoga with 29, and Cupertino with 17;
• Homes closing last month stayed on the market an average of 38 days, the same as the previous month and up from 36 days a year ago.