As has been the case across California, Palo Alto saw home sales take a dip this year compared to 2022 as mortgage rates reached an all-time high and inventory remained well-below demand. Citywide, overall sales have dropped about 14%, with one neighborhood seeing its inventory plunge by nearly half. Not all neighborhoods, however, reflect this trend. In fact, five of the city's 13 neighborhoods have closed more deals in 2023 than during 2022.

So which neighborhoods saw more activity? fewer sales? higher price tags?

Here's a look at sales activity for single-family homes in each of Palo Alto's 13 neighborhoods from January to November 2023 compared to January through November 2022 based on data from MLSListings.

(Editor's note: Sales activity based on neighborhoods and boundaries as defined by MLSListings.)

Real estate activity at a glance:

• Palo Alto's overall median sales price stayed roughly flat, dropping 1% year-over-year from $3.58 million in 2022 to $3.55 million during the same period in 2023.

• Median sales prices rose in five Palo Alto neighborhoods and declined in eight.

• Palo Alto Hills came in as the most expensive neighborhood in Palo Alto with a median sales price of $5.75 million, followed by Crescent Park at $5.38 million.

• Ventura saw the sharpest decrease in its median sales price with a 37.4% year-over-year decline. The median price dropped from $3.11 million in 2022 to $1.95 million in 2023.

• Five neighborhoods closed more deals in 2023 than the previous year: Palo Alto Hills, Crescent Park, Community Center, Professorville and Downtown.

• South Palo Alto saw the most activity with 83 sales.

• Palo Alto Hills saw the least activity with six sales.

• Palo Alto homes sat on the market for about 34 days longer at the start of this year compared to the start of last year: In January 2022, the average days on market was seven compared to 41 days this past January.

• The total number of sales recorded in Palo Alto dropped from 334 in 2022 to 287 in 2023.

• Midtown saw the sharpest decline in new homes coming on the market with a 49.3% drop year-over-year. New listings fell from 75 in 2022 to 38 in 2023.

Xin Jiang is a real estate agent with Compass in Palo Alto. She can be emailed at xin.jiang@compass.com.