This three-bedroom home at 330 Gravatt Dr. in Berkeley is on the market for $1.15 million.

Blanca Torres
Reporter- San Francisco Business Times

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Homes in East Bay cities are seeing dramatic price gains far greater than homes in San Francisco, according to ZipRealty, an online real estate brokerage.

Oakland’s median home price ballooned 76 percent to $432,000 in August compared with $245,500 in August of 2012. In Hayward, home prices jumped 55 percent to $387,000 in August 2013 compared with $250,000 last year.

Meanwhile, San Francisco’s median went up by 20 percent to $880,000, up from $735,000.

“Oakland and other communities in the East Bay were impacted more severely by the foreclosure crisis, which took a toll on East Bay real estate values while also setting these areas up for the dramatic recovery in prices we are now witnessing,” said Lanny Baker, president and CEO of Emeryville-based ZipRealty.

Prices are up by 36 percent across the nine-country Bay Area with a median of $585,000, so cities like Oakland and Hayward represent a deal in the region.

Nonetheless, prices can vary significantly from ZIP code to ZIP code in the same city. For example, Berkeley, where the median home price jumped by 21 percent during the past year to $737,500, has three ZIP codes where the median is above San Francisco’s median: $955,000 in 94707, $901,000 in 94708 and $1.22 million in 94705, which includes neighborhoods such as Claremont, the Claremont Hills, Elmwood and Panoramic Hill.

In Oakland, the 94610 ZIP code has the highest median home price of $743,000 and encompasses neighborhoods like Grand Lake, Adams Point, Lakeshore, Crocker Highlands and Trestle Glen.

In San Francisco, some of the fastest appreciating neighborhoods include North Beach and Telegraph Hill in the 94133 ZIP code where prices grew by 82 percent during the past year as well as the Marina, Cow Hollow and Pacific Heights in the 94123 ZIP code where prices rose by 68 percent in the past year.

A number of factors influence how much an area’s median home price goes up such as number of homes available. Cities such as Oakland, Berkeley, Hayward and San Francisco had less home inventory in 2013 than the year before.

Blanca Torres covers East Bay real estate for the San Francisco Business Times.

Article source: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/real-estate/2013/09/east-bay-home-prices-san-francisco.html

#1. This three-bedroom home in Piedmont is offered at $2.75 million. Piedmont has a School Score of 9.5 and a median home price of $1.2 million.

Blanca Torres
Reporter- San Francisco Business Times

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For homebuyers looking for a great public school district, the East Bay is the top area to buy a home in the Bay Area. Emeryville-based ZipRealty, an online brokerage, compiled a list of the top selling cities in the Bay Area with the highest ranking public schools — eight were in the East Bay.

Click on the slideshow to see the top 10 .

“Home values and school scores are always going to be linked,” said ZipRealty President and CEO Lanny Baker. “In order to give our users the most complete picture of a home’s value, we provide a School Score, which is calculated based on test-score data as well as student/teacher ratios, for every home listing on ZipRealty.com.”

The scores range from zero to 10 with 10 being the highest.

The No. 1 city with the highest school score is Piedmont, a small rich enclave completely surrounded by Oakland where the schools scored a 9.5 and the median price dropped 27 percent to $1.2 million in August of 2013 from $1.53 during the same month last year.

The only non-East Bay cities on the list were Palo Alto and Benicia.

Overall, median home prices in the Bay Area rose 36 percent during the past year to $585,000.

Nationwide, the Bay Area real estate market ranked second after Sacramento for having the best public schools. The Bay Area is followed by Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Orlando.

Blanca Torres covers East Bay real estate for the San Francisco Business Times.

Article source: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/2013/09/bay-area-real-estate-top-school-district.html

Newcastle Partners expects to sign more leases soon in Centre Pointe, a 197,000-square-foot office complex in Walnut Creek that the firm recently bought. 

Blanca Torres
Reporter- San Francisco Business Times

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Newcastle Partners is betting that the Shadelands Business Park, a long struggling office submarket in Walnut Creek, is poised to make a comeback.

The San Francisco-based investor and developer recently snapped up Centre Pointe, a six-building, 197,000-square-foot office complex at 165 – 215 Lennon Lane, from seller Sun Life Financial, which has partnered with Newcastle on other projects.

The price was estimated at close to $21 million or $105 to $110 per square foot, according to Cornish Carey Commercial Newmark Knight Frank.

Dennis Higgins, managing partner of Newcastle, said he expects Shadelands to see more leasing and activity from healthcare tenants and Safeway Inc.’s proposed, 25-acre retail and senior housing project (read more here).

“The basis for which we were able to purchase Center Pointe was very attractive,” Higgs said. “Historically, the Shadelands hasn’t been the most popular submarket, but we think that with an aggressive basis and all the changes in the neighborhood, it’s going to be an attractive area.”

Newcastle, founded in 1999 by Higgs, owns office and industrial properties throughout California and tends to go after value-add properties in the Bay Area.

Center Pointe was 85 percent leased at the time of the deal and Newcastle expects to sign on new tenants soon.

In the past year, the firm has picked up properties including the 80,000-square-foot 246 First St. in San Francisco with partner Stockbridge Capital Group, the 225,000-square foot Great America Place office complex in Santa Clara and a few small buildings in San Francisco’s Jackson Square area.

Blanca Torres covers East Bay real estate for the San Francisco Business Times.

Article source: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/real-estate/2013/07/newcastle-bets-on-shadelands-buys.html

AvalonBay’s Ocean Avenue apartment building joined the market last year just in time to cash in on 9.9 percent rent growth in San Francisco in 2013. Rents won’t be rising as fast this year.

Blanca Torres
Reporter- San Francisco Business Times

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Explosive rent growth in the Bay Area appears to be slowing down.

Apartment rents are expected to grow about the same this year in both San Francisco and the East Bay, according to data from Marcus Millichap.

In San Francisco, the firm predicts rents will rise 3.2 percent to an average of $2,455 per month.

In the East Bay, rents will grow by 3.3 percent to an average of $1,575 per month.

What does that mean? It’s still way cheaper to live in the East Bay than San Francisco (duh!), but also that 2013 is proving to be a year of moderation compared with 2012, when San Francisco rents shot up 9.9 percent and East Bay rents grew by 6.9 percent.

Not only is rent growth slowing down, but more units are hitting both markets. In San Francisco, 3,000 new apartments will be completed this year and about 2,100 will come online in the East Bay.

Addition of new supply should help quell soaring demand for housing.

Blanca Torres covers East Bay real estate for the San Francisco Business Times.

Article source: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/2013/07/bay-area-apartment-rents-slowing-down.html

The area median home price shoot up by 43 percent to $620,000 in the Bay Area during the past year, according to ZipRealty.

Blanca Torres
Reporter- San Francisco Business Times

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The Bay Area housing market is on fire — and we’re about to get burned.

The median home price in the Bay Area ballooned by 43 percent during the past year to $620,000 in June, up from $435,000 a year ago, according to ZipRealty, the Emeryville-based online brokerage.

The Bay Area leads the nation in year-over-year growth, followed by Sacramento with 41 percent, Los Angeles with 31 percent, Las Vegas with 30 percent and San Diego with 25 percent.

Meanwhile, the number of homes on the market in the Bay Area has dropped by 32 percent to 7,961 from 11,662 a year ago.

The fire burns brighter in particular parts of the Bay Area (like San Francisco, where the median price hit $1 million in April).

Still, that type of growth is phenomenal — and likely unsustainable. So, how long before prices level off?

The drop in inventory indicates that we’re in a supply constrained market, which could entice more sellers to put their homes on the market.

“After months of runaway prices and a near-desperate inventory situation, the Bay Area housing market is starting to replenish itself,” said ZipRealty CEO and President Lanny Baker. “Home owners across the region now see increased values, tight bid/offer spreads and lightning fast sales, and they’re reacting by putting more homes, and particularly more attractive homes, on the market once again. It’s a welcomed break in the trend even if it ultimately means prices start to cool off a bit too.”

But, what do rising home prices really mean?

I asked economist Christopher Thornberg of Beacon Economics, who is best known for rightly predicting the 2008 mortgage crisis (even though no one agreed with him).

Blanca Torres covers East Bay real estate for the San Francisco Business Times.

Article source: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/2013/07/bay-area-housing-prices-jump-43.html

Fewer Bay Area homeowners listed homes for sale in June than last the same month last year. 

Blanca Torres
Reporter- San Francisco Business Times

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Housing inventory was down by more than 30 percent during the past year in the Bay Area, according to real estate website Zillow.

When comparing June of 2013 to June of 2012 in its database of listings, Zillow found there were fewer homes on the market in the San Francisco metro area, but nationwide, the number rose by 5.3 percent.

Zillow listed 4,528 total homes for sale in June of this year, down from 6,496 last year, in the San Francisco metropolitan area including San Francisco, Alameda, Marin, Contra Costa, and San Mateo counties.

In our market, having fewer homes for sale has pumped up prices and sparked bidding wars.

“Inventory will likely remain below year-ago levels for a while yet, as builders ramp up capacity and sellers wait to squeeze every drop of equity from their home before listing,” said Stan Humphries, Zillow’s chief economist.

Experts expect that with prices climbing up, more homeowners will list their properties for sale and prices will stabilize.

“Going forward, as this new supply makes its way to market, we expect the pace of home value appreciation to slow down from unsustainably high annual levels of 5 percent or above to more moderate levels closer to historic norms of 3 percent or 4 percent,” Humphries said.

Blanca Torres covers East Bay real estate for the San Francisco Business Times.

Article source: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/real-estate/2013/06/bay-area-housing-inventory-drops-by-30.html

Name: Mi Casa
Background: Ezequiel Rodriguez launched Mi Casa in 2010 roping in his wife and two children, Eli and Cristina to help run the company.
Comes from: The agave is grown on the Rodriguez family ranch in the highlands of Michoacan, Mexico, and bottled at Casa Tequilera de Arandas in Arandas, Jalisco, Mexico.
Price Range: $35 to $44.
What the maker says: “The odds of failing are intensely high and those of succeeding much lower,” said Cristina Rodriguez. “To know that the spirit itself through the quality it possesses have been embraced by the cocktail culture and community feels great and it’s something I am extremely thankful for.”

Blanca Torres
Reporter- San Francisco Business Times

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See the Business Times’ “Tequila sunrise” package.

Tequila is taking over bars, cocktail lists and palates all over the Bay Area and as we reported this week, several young companies are jumping into the booming market for Mexico’s national spirit.

Check out our slideshow to learn more about some of the Bay Area’s homegrown tequileros.

If you know of a brand we should add to our list, contact reporter Blanca Torres.

Blanca Torres covers East Bay real estate for the San Francisco Business Times.

Article source: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/2013/06/tequila-takeover-bay-area-brands.html

This home at 6905 Norfolk Road in Berkeley boasts four bedrooms and three bathrooms for $1,095,000 or $322 per square foot. See listing here.

Blanca Torres
Reporter- San Francisco Business Times

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The median price for a single family home in San Francisco hit $1 million in April — the highest level since 2007.

The new median price is a 32 percent jump from $760,000 last year.

Got a cool $1 million to spend on a home? Click on the slideshow to the right for a virtual tour of $1 million homes in Bay Area cities.

“Shrinking inventory combined with low interest rates and motivated buyers has resulted in historically high sales prices,” said Christine Dwiggins, president of the San Francisco Association of Realtors.

Inventory levels are significantly low with only 1.1 months of inventory available — that means the amount of time it would take to sell off all the homes on the market if no new supply came on — in April whereas five to seven months of inventory is considered a balanced market.

Single-family homes in San Francisco are selling in an average of 28 days, down about 44 percent from an average of 49 days a year ago.

Meanwhile, the median price for a condo in San Francisco reached $850,000 in April — the highest level in the last two years.

Home prices have ballooned in the past year in San Francisco, but it’s not the only Bay Area city enjoying price gains.

See our slideshow for examples of what $1 million can get you in the Bay Area these days courtesy of ZipRealty.

Blanca Torres covers East Bay real estate for the San Francisco Business Times.

Article source: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/real-estate/2013/05/median-home-price-hits-1-million-in.html

San Ramon Valley Unified: School Score 9.1/ Median Price per SF $304. House in San Ramon for sale.

Blanca Torres
Reporter- San Francisco Business Times

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Location, location, location, right? Isn’t that the mantra for real estate valuation? But what if you have school-age kids? Then the real estate valuation mantra shifts: Location, location, schools.

For families with school-age kids, San Ramon ranks as the best place to buy a home based on school quality and home price, according to data from ZipRealty. Of the top 10 cities, all but two — Palo Alto and Benicia — were in the East Bay.

The Emeryville-based online residential real estate brokerage calculated which Bay Area cities had school districts with the highest test scores, lowest student/teacher ratios and lowest median price per square foot.

“We all know lots of factors — not just price per square foot — go into determining home values,” said Lanny Baker, ZipRealty CEO and president. “Among the most important of these factors for many families today is the quality of local schools in relation to the price of their local real estate.”

Here’s ZipRealty’s list of Top Ten School District Home Values in the Bay Area. Click to right to see slideshow of homes for sale.

Blanca Torres covers East Bay real estate for the San Francisco Business Times.

Article source: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/real-estate/2013/05/east-bay-schools-boost-real-estate.html

Blanca Torres
Reporter- San Francisco Business Times

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Chinese money has flooded the Bay Area real estate market — and you can expect more, way more.

Investors in Asia have plenty of reasons to put their capital in the United States and with our economy still recovering from the 2008 recession, domestic capital for projects is still relatively hard to come by.

On Wednesday, developers of Oak to Ninth in Oakland’s Brooklyn Basin announced a $1.5 billion commitment from a Chinese investor making it the second, large-scale, master planned development project to secure funding from the far east after developers for Treasure Island announced a similar agreement late last year.

Tishman Speyer also brought in significant Chinese bucks into two condo towers of 42 and 37 stories at 201 Folsom St. in San Francisco.

Other examples include a Chinese biotech firm buying the former Berlix factory in Richmond and the San Francisco Regional Center funneling Asian money into Oakland deals to buy office and industrial buildings.

Those deals are just a sampling, or a harbinger of what’s to come.

In the case of Oak to Ninth, the investor, Zarsion Holding Co. is an expansive owner developer and owner of real estate in China and the Oakland investment is their first in the United States.

Anton Qiu, a veteran broker with TRI Commercial, told me that this kind of deal is appealing to more Chinese companies and investors for a variety of reasons.

At the macro level, China holds more than $1 trillion of U.S. debt, but the dollar has been weak since the recession, so investing in assets is much more attractive. In the last few years, the Chinese government has made it easier for investors to borrow money from the government to invest in foreign countries. In the U.S., the motivation is clear — the better our economy, the more the dollar and thus, the value of China’s holdings go up.

Blanca Torres covers East Bay real estate for the San Francisco Business Times.

Article source: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/real-estate/2013/04/why-chinese-money-is-flooding-bay-area.html