San Francisco Real Estate Market Update

Not only am I a real estate agent but I am a residential homeowner and live in San Francisco's Corona Heights above the Castro. Active in the neighborhood, I am treasurer of the Corona Heights Neighborhood group (CHN) and I recently presenedt quarterly statistics for San Francisco's District 5 which includes Corona Heights, Castro/Eureka Valley, Noe Valley and several other adjacent sub districts. These statistics were for median sales price of properties sold the last quarter 2008 as compared to the last quarter 2007.

• For single family homes and multi family 2 to 4 unit buildings there was no change in the median sold price.
  

• Condominiums and TIC showed a 6% decrease in median sold price.


• However District 5 revealed 25% decrease in all types of residential properties sold.

This date is pretty darn impressive considering the huge 31% sales price decline reported for the entire Bay Area which headlined the San Francisco Chronicle recently.The reason for our strong real estate market is based on the underlying value of the land in San Francisco and the laws of supply and demand. We live in a highly desirable and beautiful city and the demand stretches beyond our the City by the Bay. We have a relatively low foreclosure rate compared to the rest of the Bay Area attributable tothe fact that

• Many of the home purchases in San Francisco are primary as opposed to secondary homes


• To date we have a stable job market and residence have a passion to live in San Francisco.
  
  

According to the October 2008 S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index (pdf), single-family home prices in the San Francisco MSA fell 4.2% from September ’08 to October '08 and are down 31.0% year-over-year. For the broader 10-City composite (CSXR), year-over-year price growth is down 19.1% (having fallen 2.1% from September). The S&P/Case-Shiller home price indices include San Francisco, San Mateo, Marin, Contra Costa, and Alameda. Contra Costa County really drags down the Bay Area home values since it has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the country, San Francisco in reality has one of the lowest foreclosure rates to date, which is 1 foreclosure filing or every 263 homes (a fairly low rate) see CNN Foreclosures: Worst hit zip codes - Feb. 5, 2008.

Now we are settling into a new year with a new president "Barak Obama to the Rescue". The financial markets and Dow have been pummeled and the TARP bail out has yet to have a noticeable positive effect on the market and the availability of loans from the banks. Stay posted for future information and real estate market updates on the San Francisco market.