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The county’s median income is $53,865 and its largest industries are agriculture, forestry, and fishing and hunting, according to U.S. Census data.

USPS data showed that nearly 500 San Francisco households relocated to Kings County during the pandemic — not a huge number, but still No. 11 among destinations for those who moved out. Realtors say the area’s appeal is, simply, its striking affordability. One of the most expensive homes on the market in Kings County is a five-bedroom, 3,400-square-foot house on an entire acre — for $800,000.

Anything at that price point is at the top of the market for the region, said Realtor Thomas Curtiss, who is the listing agent for the property in Lemoore. “You’re talking about the top 5%, give or take,” Curtiss said. “$800,000 will buy you a lot in this area.”

Let’s take a look at the landscape of around $800,000 in Lemoore and San Francisco.

A sprawling home in a small town (with a golf course across the street)

196 Hotchkiss Drive, Lemoore

List price: $819,000

Size: 3,683 square feet on a one-acre lot

Price per square foot: $222

Amenities: In-law unit, shop, spacious kitchen, laundry room, multiple patio areas, built in BBQ, pool, seven-car parking

Located in the small and residential town of Lemoore, this 2002 single-family home is spacious in every sense of the word — with storage areas, large bedrooms, large closets, and a big backyard that stretches out to a separate “in-law” unit.

At $819,000, it’s expensive for Lemoore and Kings County in general, said Curtiss, the listing agent for the property. With a population of only 30,000 people, Lemoore is a quiet, suburban, cul-de-sacian hideaway. It’s not bustling, it’s mostly military, and as Curtiss puts it, “there’s not a crazy amount of stuff to do.”

Most of the people who live there are nurses, associated with the military, or business owners. The town is home to two plants owned by cheese manufacturer Leprino Foods. It’s also known for Surf Ranch — the 2,000-foot-long, 500-foot-wide artificial wave pool created by surf star Kelly Slater that’s regarded as one of the best in the world.

Kings County and the neighboring Tulare County — which Curtiss says is seeing a lot of Bay Area transplants, as well — have always been affordable. But in the last year, the market in Kings County has increased by about 12%. Curtiss said it’s been competitive, with some houses seeing 25 showings in two days and even ones with 25 offers on them at once. The market, in general, is also low in inventory, with around a quarter of what they normally have. But the average price point in the county is still low: about $280,000, which would buy you a three-bedroom, two-bathroom house at about 1,500 square feet.

At $819,000, the Hotchkiss house is a rarity for the area, but Curtiss says they’ve already had multiple offers on the home.

A San Francisco rarity: three bedrooms for $800,000

29 Woodward Street, San Francisco

List price: $799,000

Size: 1,100 square feet

Price per square foot: $726

Amenities: Outdoor deck, private storage room, W/D hookups

This home is an anomaly for San Francisco: anything at an $800,000 price point is rare in the city. In that price range, there are only a handful of homes on the market right now. Most of them are condos or TICs in the two-to-one-bedroom range, said Keller Williams Realtor Anthony Koutsos, who is the listing agent for the Woodward Street home.

A three-bedroom is very rare at this price point, he said, which is why he thought it would “be a screaming deal.”

One reason for the lower price is that the home is a TIC, not a condominium. TICs, or “tenancy-in-common” units, typically sell for less than comparable condos on the market, because of the unique co-ownership structure. A TIC unit is owned as a percentage of the property, rather than as an individual unit.

Despite the list price, this unit — in a property that was built in 1907 — has been on and off the market for about three months and has had trouble selling. Part of the reason why, Koutsos says, is because of its location: right by a busy highway overpass. Plus, the unit — which is on the ground floor — doesn’t get much light or have any views.

But, still, it’s got a fair amount to offer: shared outdoor space, a private storage room (though that comes with fees), and low homeowners association dues.

In general, the $800,000 price point has been a challenging one in San Francisco, Koutsos said. Inventory is low, and most units come with some kind of trade-off. As a result, some of his units are staying on the market longer than he’d expect.

He’s seen a lot of inquiries from people who want to buy these condos and TICs as investments. “They’re coming out of the woodwork from Sacramento, San Jose, the East Bay.”

Koutsos says some would-be buyers know little about the San Francisco real estate market and what to expect from different neighborhoods and locations, or from a condominium versus a TIC versus a single-family house. Those buyers are rarely the ones that have made it past the finish line, he said.

Still, he has no doubt Woodward will sell. It’s just a matter of time.

Annie Vainshtein is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: avainshtein@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @annievain

For roughly six months, Steven MacDonald has felt more like he’s trying to unload fax machines or Friendster stock than prime San Francisco office space.

MacDonald has been practicing real estate law for 30 years, and for most of that time he’s had offices in the Flood Building, which used to be a prime location. It’s a few blocks from Union Square and the financial district, right off a Bay Area Rapid Transit subway stop.

He’s had two small offices on the sublet market since August, when it became clear his firm would be joining the post-pandemic hybrid revolution — some days at the office, some at home.

The problem is every other San Francisco lawyer or therapist or insurance agent apparently has the same idea.

“I’m not getting anything,” said MacDonald, 72. “And I just spoke to my administrator, and she just told me they dropped the ad. There were no nibbles.”

About 18% of San Francisco office space is on the market right now, roughly 14 million square feet of emptiness. Major companies synonymous with the city, from Twitter and Salesforce to Levi’s and The Gap, have all announced plans to downsize as they consider a future where remote work is more prevalent.

“It’s been a tough 12 months, there’s no doubt,” said Robert Sammons, senior director of Bay Area research at Cushman Wakefield, a commercial real estate company.

While demand for lower-tier properties has dropped significantly, other parts of the market are showing some signs of life.

The Salesforce Tower, the city’s tallest building and a gleaming monument to just how much property Big Tech has devoured in San Francisco over the last decade, remains highly coveted.

“If you’re a top-tier tenant, if you want to be in the best product in San Francisco, you would look to Salesforce Tower,” Sammons said.

Appetite for so-called “trophy” buildings is holding up pretty well. Nothing says “our SPAC killed it’s IPO” like a 61st floor panorama of the San Francisco Bay.

It’s the lesser buildings without a commute by gondola option that are the bigger worry.

That could be an opportunity for the next Salesforce, which right now could be just two coders working out of their proverbial garage … or Zooming from two different garages.

“There are smaller tech companies, there are smaller professional services firms. Now is kind of the time, the sweet spot for a lot of them,” Sammons said.

So far though, startups are doing more window-shopping than actual leasing. A different industry is being far more aggressive scooping up space. They’re still tech-ish, just not hoodies and jeans tech-ish.

“If you would through the lab you’d see a typical diagnostic lab, and yes there’s lab coats,” said Ken Knight, chief operating officer at Invitae, a biotech firm that does genetic testing.

Earlier this year Invitae inked a deal for a second San Francisco location. Terms of the deal aren’t public.

“We wouldn’t have signed the lease if we didn’t feel good about the opportunity,” Knight said. “So yeah, we feel good about the deal.”

Biotech companies like Invitae can’t go fully remote, and that’s been a lifeline for San Francisco real estate. Three months ago, drug company Vir Biotechnologies took over a giant chunk of Dropbox’s headquarters. Not long after, the property sold for over $1 billion, a record price per square foot for San Francisco office space.

Not every commercial property in San Francisco can accommodate what biotech often needs: lab space, floors that can support heavy machinery, state-of-the-art ventilation systems.

But news of the deal was still a positive sign for Carmen Chu, San Francisco’s city administrator. Not only did it mean more property taxes, the city’s biggest source of revenue, it’s also a strong signal that investors don’t think the city is going to ghost itself.

“We are a population of roughly 900,000, but during the weekdays we swell to over a million people that come in for work,” Chu said. “All those people, they’re shopping in our centers, they’re eating in our local cafes.”

And they’re paying sales taxes, another key revenue source.

Chu can rely on Steven MacDonald to contribute his fair share to city coffers — he’s not going anywhere. Nibbles or no nibbles, he’s made this place his own.

Right before the pandemic, MacDonald was putting the finishing touches on what he calls his office’s 18th-century lounge. Leather couches, a tapestry from the Hapsburg empire on one wall, an oil painting of a French aristocrat on the other.

“This is a room that, to use the vernacular, I pimped up,” MacDonald said.

MacDonald knows other San Francisco law firms going fully remote. But he thinks he has a competitive advantage staying put. The lounge is a good place to drink with your adversaries.

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Article source: https://www.pleasantonweekly.com/blogs/p/2021/03/11/people-are-bailing-out-of-san-francisco-but-not-the-bay-area

Google has over 52,000 employees in California. It plans to hire 10,000 more workers in the U.S. and invest more than $7 billion across the country this year. In the past three years, Google invested nearly $30 billion in offices and data centers.

The pandemic devastated restaurants, hotels, airlines and retailers, but it made the tech giants even richer. Last month, Google’s parent company, Alphabet, reported fourth-quarter revenue of $56.9 billion, a 23% surge from the prior year. Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Salesforce are also seeing booming earnings.

Google is allowing workers to stay fully remote until at least September, and Pichai said employees can work from home two days per week after offices reopen. But the company’s appetite for new office space, concentrated in Silicon Valley, remains enormous.

Google plans to complete two office projects in Mountain View this year: the 595,000-square-foot Charleston East and the 1.1 million-square-foot Bay View. Together, the two projects have more office space than Salesforce Tower. Google also will start work on a building in Sunnyvale using non-traditional wood construction known as mass timber.

The company’s growth in San Francisco has slowed, but it signed a small lease last year at Rincon Center. Google is also building out interior space at the Landmark building at 1 Market St., previously Salesforce’s headquarters.

A glut of vacant sublease space near Google’s offices in San Francisco could give the tech giant an opportunity to expand further at a discount.

Google has also proposed a major campus next to Diridon Station in San Jose, which could be approved this year, as well as further expansion in Mountain View and Sunnyvale.

In Los Angeles, Google leased 584,000 square feet at Westside Pavilion, a defunct mall being converted into offices. It is also growing in San Diego.

Google separately committed $1 billion in 2019 to fund affordable housing and recently loaned $30 million to three projects.

The company’s growth has come with more scrutiny, and Google is facing more criticism and numerous antitrust lawsuits over its dominance over internet search and online advertising. Google has denied the allegations and says its products benefit users.

Roland Li is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: roland.li@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rolandlisf

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KRON) – The market is really heating up in the South Bay.

“Areas such as Morgan Hill, Gilroy, and Hollister,” Santa Clara County Association of Realtors president Doug Goss says the local real estate market is red hot.

“We’re seeing multiple offers on most homes that are priced well. We’re seeing multiple offers. We’re seeing properties selling considerably over asking price,” Goss said.

Core Logic reports a January 36% Bay Area wide increase in sales of single-family homes in eight Bay Area counties. 

Driving the surge are low interest rates and a pandemic-related pent-up demand, says Doug Goss.

“We’re seeing a lot of people looking for more space. A lot of people working from home. So they’re looking for where they can have a home office, more space. Kids are being home-schooled now, so they need space for the children to do their education,” Goss said.

The year-over-year median-priced home in the south is up 16% to 1.25 million.

Across the South Bay and beyond, For Sale signs are scarce amid a lack of inventory that is only adding to the competition, says Goss.

“Inventory levels are very low. In Santa Clara County we have about 645 single-family homes currently on the market today,” Goss said.

Goss says the second home and condo market is also heating up and barring a resurgence of the pandemic, he remains bullish about where the market is headed.

“Now with proposition 19 in effect, we do anticipate that will bring more homes to the market. But I still think a very strong demand with low inventory of homes available will continue to drive in Santa Clara County.

Article source: https://www.kron4.com/news/real-estate/red-hot-housing-market-bay-area-real-estate-prices-soar/