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San Francisco Board of Supervisors President David Chiu has admonished WB Coyle, a prominent real estate broker from district. 

Article source: http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/San-Francisco-Real-Estate-Broker-Not-Welcome-in-City-215887761.html

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San Francisco Board of Supervisors President David Chiu has admonished WB Coyle, a prominent real estate broker from district. 

Article source: http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/San-Francisco-Real-Estate-Broker-Not-Welcome-in-City-215887761.html

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U.S. home prices jumped 10.9 percent in March compared with a year ago, the most since April 2006.

A growing number of buyers are bidding on a tight supply of homes, driving prices higher and helping the housing market recover. The Standard Poor’s/Case-Shiller home price index released Tuesday also showed that all 20 cities measured by the report posted year-over-year gains for the third straight month. And prices rose in 15 cities in March from February. That’s up from only 11 in the previous month.

The monthly figures aren’t seasonally adjusted and may reflect the beginning of the spring buying season.

Prices rose in Phoenix by 22.5 percent over the past 12 months, the biggest gain among cities. It was followed by San Francisco (22.2 percent) and Las Vegas (20.6 percent). New York City had the smallest year-over-year increase at 2.6 percent, followed by Cleveland at 4.8 percent.

“Rising home prices may begin to alleviate a lack of housing inventory … by encouraging more homeowners to put their properties on the market,” said Maninder Sibia, an economist with Economic Advisory Service, in a note to clients.

“The housing market is clearly improving.” The index covers roughly half of U.S. homes. It measures prices compared with those in January 2000 and creates a three-month moving average. The March figures are the latest available.

The U.S. housing market is steadily recovering, buoyed by solid job gains and near-record low mortgage rates.

Sales of new homes rose in April to nearly a five-year high. And sales of previously occupied homes ticked up in April to the highest level in three and a half years. Despite the gains, a limited number of homeowners are putting their houses on the market. That’s helped lift home prices. And it’s made builders more willing to ramp up construction. Applications for building permits rose in April to the highest level in nearly five years.

The supply of available homes jumped in April, but was still 14 percent below its level a year earlier. Stan Humphries, chief economist at Zillow, a real estate data provider, said that the increase in the Case-Shiller index has been skewed higher by cities such as Phoenix and San Francisco.

Fewer homes are available in those areas because many homeowners still owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth.

That makes it difficult to sell. Still, even excluding those markets, home prices are rising steadily nationwide, Humphries said. The increases are “certainly confirmation that the housing market is experiencing a brisk recovery,” he added.

The housing recovery is creating more construction jobs and bolstering the economy in other ways. Higher home prices make homeowners feel wealthier and encourages them to spend more.

Rising prices also encourage more would-be buyers to purchase homes, before prices rise further.

They also enable more homeowners to sell homes, by reducing the number of people who owe more on their mortgages than the homes are worth. Prices have been increasing steadily since last summer.

Still, they are about 29 percent below the peak reached in July 2006. Banks have raised their credit standards since the housing bubble burst and are demanding larger down payments. That’s made it particularly hard for potential first-time buyers to get a mortgage.

Copyright Associated Press

Article source: http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Bay-Area-Housing-Prices-Take-Big-Jump-209268641.html

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IMAGES: Famous Homes in San Francisco

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The real estate glory days have returned to San Francisco.

The median price for a home in the city is back at the $1 million mark, according to the SFGate.com real estate blog On the Block.

It appears that the data from April reveals a median price increase of 32 percent from 2012, according to the Business Journal. That’s higher than the average list price of $799,000, which means “too many buyers [are] vying for too few properties,” the blog reported.

Supply and demand means that a home that sold at auction in 1998 for $106,500 in Twin Peaks is now listed for $995,000, the blog reported.

In general, sellers are getting 112 percent of their asking prices for San Francisco homes, according to Redfin.

A seller’s market — but could it get any hotter?

Yes. Another home, bought in November 2012 for $875,000, is back on the market, less than a year later — for an asking price of $1.2 million. Will it sell for a 100 percent profit? It could — which is saying something.

Copyright NBC Owned Television Stations

Article source: http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/SF-Median-Home-Price-Tops-1-Million-211448041.html

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A prominent San Francisco real estate broker could lose his license after the NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit uncovered what his investors call a decade of deception.   The broker attracted more than a dozen investors to false promises of profit from prime real estate in a historic San Francisco neighborhood.  

Article source: http://www.nbcbayarea.com/investigations/WB-Coyle-208367411.html

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The real estate tracking firm DataQuick says San Francisco Bay area home sales dipped in March compared to the same period in 2012, but the median price rose on a year-over-year basis for the 12th consecutive month.

San Diego-based DataQuick said Thursday that the March results were due to demand continuing to outstrip supply in many areas.

DataQuick says 7,263 new and resale houses and condos sold in the nine-county area last month, up 34.4 percent from February but down 6 percent from March 2012.

The median price paid in March was $436,000, an increase of 7.7 percent from $405,000 in February and up 21.8 percent from $358,000 in March 2012.

DataQuick says transactions of $500,000 or greater helped push the median sale price up.

Copyright Associated Press

Article source: http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Supply-Affects-SF-Bay-Area-March-Home-Sales-203631541.html

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It’s a great Recession to be a property owner. For now at least.

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Article source: http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/San-Francisco-Real-Estate-Value-Grows-by-6-Billion-163918026.html

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UPDATE: Evan Flanary, phone his mother to let her know he is safe and staying with a friend. He had turned off his phone.

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Police are looking for a missing San Francisco man who was last seen Tuesday in the South of Market district, according to reports.

Evan Flanary, 22, was last seen on his way to meet a “stranger from a social phone app contact,” according to his family.

He is 6-foot 1, 160 lbs, has blonde hair and blue eyes, and was last seen wearing blue jeans and a gray hooded sweatshirt, according to the San Francisco Appeal online newspaper.

Flanary has no history of medical or psychological conditions and was not on any form of medication, the newspaper reported.

His family is asking for any and all help from the community.

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Article source: http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Police-Seeking-Missing-San-Francisco-Man-Last-Seen-in-SOMA-160317475.html