Sales of luxury property in silicon valley soar

Sales of luxury property in Silicon Valley have soared, according to Realtytrac.

Indeed, the home of high-tech companies is fast becoming the capital of high-end housing, with the number of properties worth over $1 million more than doubling in most of the area in the last 12 months.

Saratoga saw the biggest surge, with 225 luxury homes sold this year, a staggering 162 per cent increase from 2011. Burlingame came close behind, with 211 high-end homes shifted, followed by Cupertino and Los Altos. Each of these ranked higher than traditional luxury property markets, such as Beverley Hills and Miami.

"Silicon Valley is one of those hyperlocal markets that are just very strong right now," Daren Blumquist of Realtytrac told NBC News.

The news follows the Facebook effect felt earlier this year, which saw prices and sales rise as new blood entered the housing market. But the current surge is not driven by social network tycoons, reveals CNBC. Instead, established firms, such as Apple and Google, are fuelling the growth. Overseas buyers from China are also investing heavily in the market, with some properties seeing multiple Chinese buyers competing for the purchase.

"The Chinese buyers are telling me that this is a safe place to put their money and a good place for their kids, given the quality of the schools," said Robert Gerlach of Alain Pinel's Palo Alto office.