This home at 3800 Washington St. in the Presidio Heights neighborhood of San Francisco is on the market for $21 million. It has eight bedrooms, seven bathrooms and 17,895 square feet. Prices for homes above $1 million grew by 11 percent during the past year.

Blanca Torres
Reporter- San Francisco Business Times

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The Bay Area’s housing market continues heating up, but for how long?

Home values in the Bay Area rose by 27.8 percent during the past year to an average of $628,200 in July, according to Zillow, a real estate information site. Zillow calculates home value appreciation for all homes, not just homes that have sold or are on the market.

Click on the image for a slideshow of Bay Area homes that are on the market or have risen significantly in value.

San Francisco ranked third nationwide for home value appreciation after Sacramento with 33.1 percent growth to $274,600 and Las Vegas with 30.8 percent growth to $151,600.

Nationwide, home values crept up by 6 percent during the past year to an average $161,600 — about 25 percent of San Francisco’s average (kind of makes you want to move doesn’t it?).

“The U.S. housing market recovery has proven it is on very sound footing,” said Zillow Chief Economist Dr. Stan Humphries. “We have entered a new phase in the recovery when we can begin to turn away from ugly recent history and turn toward what the housing market of the future will look like and how it will act.”

The housing market has improved significantly, but I’m not sure the Bay Area’s performance will continue to rise at the rapid pace we’ve seen in the past couple of years.

Also, the market here is increasingly shifting toward the high-end and away from first-time and entry-level buyers.

First Republic Bank reported today that luxury home prices in the Bay Area jumped 10.9 percent during the second quarter of this year compared with 2012 to an average of $2.9 million — the highest since the fourth quarter of 2008 and approaching the all-time highs of 2007.

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

Article source: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/real-estate/2013/08/bay-area-home-values-up-28-percent.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

No. 5: J. Rockcliff
Realtors

Gross sales by Bay Area office(s) in 2012: $2,070,049,206

Gross sales by Bay Area office(s) in 2011: $1,905,265,505

Top Bay Area executive: Jeff Sposito, President

Elizabeth Matsushita
Editorial researcher- San Francisco Business Times

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The top five Bay Area residential real estate firms held strong to their positions this year, though there were a few small surprises. What San Ramon-based real estate firm dominated our Bay Area list, but came in third on our East Bay list? Which of the top five was the only one to see a decrease in Bay Area sales compared to 2011?

Click on the image to start a slideshow of the Largest Residential Real Estate Firms in the Bay Area.

The San Francisco Business Times publishes industry rankings in each issue of the paper and reprints them at the end of the year for our annual Book of Lists. These lists are unique and authoritative sources of Bay Area business news.

To see the full Top 25 list, check out this week’s issue. The other list in this week’s issue is the Largest Residential Real Estate Firms in the East Bay.

To see our full Lists, subscribe to the San Francisco Business Times in print.

Elizabeth Matsushita is an editorial researcher at the San Francisco Business Times.

Article source: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/2013/03/top-5-residential-real-estate-firms-in.html

This model is known as the Breezehouse. 

Blanca Torres
Reporter- San Francisco Business Times

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Blu Homes is quickly becoming a household name in the Bay Area. The maker of prefabricated homes is targeting Bay Area buyers for their sustainably designed and energy-efficient houses.

Click on the image for a slideshow of Blu Homes units.

“You have a lot of people in the Bay Area who care deeply about technology, who want convenience, who are willing to go online and design something on their own, and who also want a process that is not going to take two years,” said Maura McCarthy, co-founder and vice president of strategy for Blu Homes.

The company makes homes with green building materials and steel framing that use about half the energy of a conventional home.

Now four years after it was founded, Blu Homes is ramping up production at its Vallejo factory and watching its sales climb.

You can read more in the Nov. 23rd edition of the San Francisco Business Times.

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

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Article source: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/real-estate/2012/11/blu-homes-targets-bay-area-buyers.html

Jane Duperrault, CEO of Stanford Federal Credit Union.

Chris S. Burns
Researcher- San Francisco Business Times

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The accompanying gallery is an excerpt from this week’s List of Largest Credit Unions in the Bay Area.

Click on the image to start a slideshow of top Bay Credit Unions.

The San Francisco Business Times publishes industry rankings in each issue of the paper and reprints them at the end of the year for our annual Book of Lists. These lists are unique and authoritative sources of Bay Area business news.

To see the full list, check out this week’s issue. Other lists in this week’s issue include Largest Credit Unions in the East Bay and Largest Construction Project on the Peninsula.

Chris S. Burns is a researcher at the San Francisco Business Times.

Follow Your Favorites with My News

My News is a way to create a customized news feed based on companies and industries that matter to you.

Article source: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/2012/08/top-5-bay-area-credit-unions.html