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Here’s one to turn heads: Real estate site Realty Hop has declared San Francisco one of the coldest home markets in the nation for the last four months in a row.

The listing site measured the difference between a home’s listing price and final sales price. “In theory, stronger markets should exhibit fewer price drops and smaller percentage discounts,” according to Realty Hop.

In February, the average San Francisco home sale scored 5.07 percent less than its original asking price, a difference of about $61,000. That puts the city in sixth place nationally. (For comparison, the “hottest” market under this standard was Gilbert, Arizona, where the median decline before sale came in at 1.69 percent, a median of approximately $8,500.)

Back in January, home sales were 5.75 percent under the asking price, for December 5.63 percent, and the same figure in November of last year.

When people imagine buying and selling homes in SF these days, they usually picture bidding wars and ever-escalating prices, so the idea that the city leads the nation in discounted sales seems surprising. In 2018, Sotheby’s International Realty reported that nearly 80 percent of houses in San Francisco sold their over asking prices.

But these recent declines aren’t much of a mystery; according to Compass Real Estate’s most recent report on the SF market, it’s common to see this type of dip during winter months.

In fact, nearly the exact same cycle has happened over the past three years, with springtime months bringing a rebound of homes selling well over asking prices. This trend is also common in most other cities.

It is potentially significant that SF’s seasonal price drops are some of the largest nationwide, though. Especially since the SF bounce back in spring of 2019 was much more modest in previous years, and declined significantly in the summer, according to those Compass figures. If 2020 contracts more, it’s possible the balance could dip into negative in other months, which could get a little scary.

It’s worth noting that these statistics are prone to manipulation; for example, some realtors will opt not to cut a home’s price but instead yank it off the market for a month or two and then list it later as an allegedly new offering. Pretty sneaky, pretty common.

And, of course, some sellers will price a home at less than its value to make sure it sells for a coveted “over asking” price figure later. Numbers don’t lie, but they don’t always tell the whole truth, either.

Article source: https://sf.curbed.com/2020/2/24/21151085/sf-homes-under-asking-prices-winter-2019-2020

After a months-long slump in Bay Area home prices, the market appears poised to drive higher as buyers act on low interest rates and fight for scarce inventory.

The median sale price for a single-family home in the nine-county Bay Area edged up 1.5 percent in December over the previous year, the first upswing since April, according to Zillow.

Agents and economists expect a market rebound — and December’s $871,500 median price could be the start of another streak. “This area has been the go-to example of where the market overheated,” said Zillow economist Jeff Tucker said. “It went through a pretty major correction.”

Higher mortgage interest rates and home prices soaring beyond the reach of most would-be buyers contributed to the slowdown, especially in tech-heavy San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, Tucker said.

The Bay Area market slowed in 2019 after a record-breaking run that saw price gains of 10 percent or more during a surge in 2017 and into 2018. Buyers — cautious, frightened or priced-out — retreated from the market. Homes took longer to sell, and bidding wars cooled in some areas.

But low interest rates, now around 3.5 percent, and a steady economy once again have stoked buying and selling across the region.

Led by surges in core Silicon Valley communities, the Bay Area’s median sale price for a single-family home rose 1.48 percent to $871,500 from the previous December, according to Zillow.

Median sale prices for single-family homes jumped 4.76 percent to $1.46 million in San Mateo County, grew 1.43 percent to $1.2 million in Santa Clara County, and increased just under one percent in Contra Costa County to $639,700 and Alameda County to $870,700, according to Zillow data.

Sonoma was the only county where prices fell, dropping less than one percent to $635,300.

Tucker said the strong economy and influx of high-paying tech jobs helped the region sustain its highest-in-the-nation prices. He noted that the number of homes for sale has been dropping since fall, putting more pressure on buyers.

Bay Area agents say the market has begun a comeback.

Will Doerlich, with Realty One in Pleasanton, said open houses this month in the East Bay were drawing more than 100 would-be buyers. Doerlich canceled a winter vacation to keep up with closings, he said. “We’re not seeing any slow down in demand,” he said.

One property in San Francisco, generously described as a “fixer-upper” near a BART station, was drawing two or three visitors a day, Doerlich said. The home needs major work, but the $895,000 asking price was drawing the bargain seekers, the curious and the brave.

Houses in the outer suburbs are attracting first-time buyers and families looking for more room. A four-bedroom in Livermore went on the market Thursday and drew a full-price, $1.5 million offer two days later, he said. “Does that sound like a slow market?” he asked.

Tech employees have benefited from a strong stock market, and sales near major companies have surged, agents said. San Mateo County prices marked their biggest gains since May.

Santa Clara County had its first year-over-year gain since December 2018. The county had seen prices for single-family homes drop 11 straight months after years of a scorching market.

Willow Glen agent Don Sabatini said the market didn’t slow down during the holiday season. Activity has remained strong for homes around $1 million. “That’s where the most competition is,” he said.

One client offered $970,000 on a three-bedroom home in Blossom Valley. The client’s offer was nearly $200,000 over asking — and the client lost in a frenzy of 46 other bidders, Sabatini said.

“Active inventory in Santa Clara County,” he said, “is extremely low.”

Another client bid $1 million on a three-bedroom, as-is home in South San Francisco. Sabatini estimated the home needed another $200,000 in renovations — and his client’s generous, above-listing offer couldn’t clinch the deal.

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Article source: https://www.mercurynews.com/after-lull-bay-area-home-prices-regain-speed

If it seems like nothing is the same in the Bay Area anymore, technically you’re wrong. In many neighborhoods, you’re likely to have the same neighbors in the same homes as you did back at the beginning of the 1990s—or even longer.

Using data from the U.S. Census’s American Community Survey, a recent study looked at which major American cities have the most homeowners (not renters) who have lived in one house for at least 30 years.

While the number-one spot went to Detroit, Michigan, you don’t have to look very far down the rankings to hit Bay Area pay dirt.

• Daly City came in second place. Per census estimates, 37.2 percent of current homeowners have been in their homes for at least three decades.
• And not very far behind is Berkeley in fourth place, with 35.1 percent.
• SF just barely misses out on making the top 25, landing in 27th place. The number of very long-term residents in Baghdad by the Bay is 28.6 percent.
• After the top 25, the rankings get much closer together. For example, San Mateo’s percentage was very close to SF’s at 28 percent, but it landed a whole five spots lower in 32nd place.

Note that the study only looked at cities with populations of 100,000 or more, which actually excludes the majority of Bay Area townships. Among the next ten largest cities in the region, the American Community Survey doesn’t record any long-term homeowner figures higher than 25.1 percent.

So is it a good thing or a bad thing to live in a city with a large number of longtime neighbors? Well, certainly it’s good for people to have that much security, and presumably those long tenures reflect well on the community as a whole.

And with the Bay Area in constant existential dread about the changing of the guard, the idea that many neighborhood mainstays remain may provide some comfort.

That said, there are also some infrastructural hurdles that such an environment can create. For example, Bay Area politicians are very fond of pointing the finger at entrenched homeowners as a spur behind NIMBYism. Fair or not, communities that accrue such reputations can end up as easy targets for critics.

In a more tangible sense, staying in one home for decades on end can create problems for the homeowners themselves. The federal Department of Housing and Urban Development noted in 2013 that “many seniors feel that their current homes are not well suited for aging.” The agency also noted that keeping one home for a long time in suitable comfort is often a privilege reserved for wealthier households.

Meanwhile, Freddie Mac last year cited longtime homeowners “aging in place” as one factor potentially driving up home prices for others, especially first-time buyers and millennials. Seniors staying in one home longer “accounts for about 1.6 million houses held back from the market through 2018, about one year’s typical supply of new construction.”

Of course, the Bay Area hardly needs help driving up demand for homes. But every little bit counts.

Article source: https://sf.curbed.com/2020/1/28/21083873/cities-longest-tenure-living-homeowners-years-grow-old

• There’s a San Francisco mansion for sale for $21.8 million in the city’s Presidio Heights neighborhood. 
• It was built in 1904 and modeled after a royal French chateau, but that’s just a sliver of the home’s colorful back story.
• It was once owned by the founder of the tech website CNET before he went bankrupt in 2008 and was later inhabited by a squatter who stole artwork from the home, sneaking paintings out and selling them at pawn shops and on social media sites in 2014 and 2015.
• Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

The 20-room mansion at 3800 Washington Street is not your average multi-million-dollar San Francisco real-estate listing.

It’s a replica of Le Petit Trianon, the 18th-century French chateau built by Louis XV at the Versailles Palace in France. It’s listed on San Francisco’s National Register of Historic Places. Years ago, it was in serious need of some TLC and was declared abandoned by the city more than once. Taylor Swift was rumored to have considered buying it in 2014. It’s been inhabited by a serial drifter and Taylor Swift fanatic, who turned it into his own personal “thug mansion” and “headquarters” for a stolen-art-hocking business in 2014 and 2015. It’s been renovated and was selected for not one, but two, San Francisco Designer Showcases, first in 1982 and then in 2019.

And now, it’s listed for sale for $21.8 million.

The home doesn’t share the same aesthetic as many of the Bay Area’s real-estate listings. There’s nothing stark, white, or minimalist, about this place. 

Rich blue and green colors mingle with brass accents. Extravagant chandeliers hang from the ceiling. There are nine (NINE!) “decorative” fireplaces. Columns and arched doorways greet you upon entering. Patterned ceilings and velvet cushions fill the space. There’s even a ballroom, for crying out loud. 

For all its drama over the years, the home lives up to its namesake — it’s a French palace befit for royals, or at least the royal upper-class of 21st century San Francisco.

Here’s the saga of 3800 Washington Street and what it’s like inside the beautiful mansion.

Article source: https://www.businessinsider.com/inside-san-francisco-mansion-presidio-heights-2020-2

Article source: https://www.sfchronicle.com/local-politics/article/Ultra-luxury-SF-condo-projects-could-test-just-15075358.php