By Clyde Noel

Town Crier Correspondent

That’s a tough question ever since Sept. 11, because the market appears uncertain. High-tech layoffs have created weakened confidence among buyers, but Fannie Mae’s economists report 2002 is beginning to look favorable for home sales.

Before the terrorist attacks, economists remained upbeat even as the real estate market showed signs of slowing down. Since the attacks, people are understandably cautious about the future.

In a recent report from the Santa Clara County Multiple Listing Service (MLS), the number of single family homes sold in the county showed a 40 percent decline for the month of October.

Fred Hibbert, Coldwell Banker manager, said he prefers to check on the new sales of homes.

“In the first week of November, we had 245 new sales of homes in the county, the result of pent-up demand. We had 30 new sales on million dollar homes and that is important to us in Los Altos.”

Hibbert also mentioned the supply of homes is decreasing. In September, we had a 5.3-month supply of homes on the market where it has now decreased to a 3.5-month supply.

In an interesting statistic, the number of homes taken off the market after being on sale has increased. In most cases, the homes were on the market for more than four months which indicated the asking prices were too high for home buyers.

Another reason sellers took their homes off the market is the low interest rate (currently 6.3 percent). Instead of selling, they refinanced their mortgage and stayed put.

Before last month, real estate was one of the brightest spots in the fading economy. Now, from Los Angeles to San Francisco, there are signs the terrorist disasters have had a broad - and remarkably varied - impact on housing prices.

Mickey Shaevitz, a Coldwell Banker realtor said you have to work to sell a home these days. “It took me a week before I was able to make a closing on a house. But the market is rebounding and looking better.”

Home sales during October, November and Decembe,r when people have their minds on the coming holidays, are usually slow. This year it’s slow, but looking optimistic.

The MLS reported the median selling price of a home in the Valley was $481,000 in October, less than the $500,000 September median price. Compared to October 2000, the median price declined 9 percent from $530,000.

Analysts are downgrading their earlier forecasts of around 6 percent overall price appreciation for the year. Talking with real-estate brokers, as well as potential buyers and sellers, all are optimistic they can get the price they would like in the near future.