Dozens of people camp overnight for chance to buy a $1.2m townhouse in Silicon Valley

Dozens of people camped out overnight for the chance to buy $1.2m townhouses in California’s Silicon Valley.

A makeshift campsite sprung up outside the Nuevo Homes development in Santa Clara for the first-come, first-serve sale of 18 fixed-price homes.

The sale meant that there was no bidding war for the homes, situated in a notoriously competitive real estate market.

Santa Clara is under 20 miles from both Facebook’s headquarters in Menlo Park, California, and the Google campus in Mountain View, California.

Those who secured one of the homes will live on a development that includes 331 two-to-four bedroom homes, retail and restaurants, bike paths, an outdoor movie theatre, dog parks, outdoor spaces and electric vehicle charging.

Real estate developer SummerHill Homes says that 240 homes, or 70 per cent of the project, have already been sold.

Real estate agent Nancy Reynolds told NBC Bay Area she was waiting in line for her clients.

“It’s really hard to get a house in Silicon Valley and they’re releasing only 18 today and probably most people in line know which lot they want,” said Ms Reynolds.

And Jeremy Naval, also a real estate agent, said he had been in line for several days on behalf of a client.

“My client just really, really wanted to be the first one, so I promised him, I said, ‘Whatever I have to do to get you the first one, I’ll do it,’” Mr Naval said.

Experts say that low interest rates and a low inventory of available housing have led to rocketing prices and huge bidding wars between buyers.

In March a 1,400-square-foot home near Sacramento, California, listed for $399,900 reportedly received 122 offers in a weekend.