Monterey Peninsula drawing Silicon Valley residents looking for second home

The Central Coast housing market is getting a lot of interest from Silicon Valley residents.

“The tech executives particularly in the Silicon Valley that have high disposable income are looking for second homes,” said Scott O’Brien, realtor for Sotheby’s International Realty Pacific Grove and Carmel.

Their heading south to buy on the picturesque Central Coast.

”To either have a vacation home, to get out of the area, or to have a home where they live full time and it’s not too far of a commute,” said Zach Goldman with Keller Williams Coastal Estates.

Realtors said the demand is high.

“Forty-five percent of the buyers here on the Monterey Peninsula come from the Silicon Valley,” said O’Brien. “Yea that’s a number that shocks a lot of people.”

Which realtors said has helped to increase home prices on the Monterey Bay by 30 percent. Price points are even returning to what they were in 2005 and 2006, when real estate on the Central Coast was at its peak.

“At our lowest we were probably average price points of somewhere around $550,000 and now, average, a little bit higher, $800-850,000,” said Goldman.

Realtors said a single family home for $800,000 dollars may seem like a lot to a local, but for a tech executive its chump change.

“Not when they’re tearing down homes in Palo Alto for $2 million dollars and then building another $2 million dollar home on top of that same lot,” said O’Brien. “So dollar for dollar the Monterey Peninsula has a lot to offer.”

Realtors also said buyers are using their second homes to generate income.

“When they’re not using it they’ll use either a management company or do it themselves to have a guest come in and stay,” said Goldman.

Don’t expect this trend cool off anytime soon, realtors believe it’s actually going to get even stronger.

ORIGINAL STORY: The Central Coast housing market is getting a lot of interest from Silicon Valley residents.

Techies are purchasing second homes on the Monterey Peninsula, driving up the prices.

KION’s Maya Holmes with hear from realtors who say housing prices are returning to what they were before the market tanked.