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Article source: https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/networth/article/Paragon-Real-Estate-of-SF-acquired-by-Compass-to-13061063.php

Article source: https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/networth/article/Paragon-Real-Estate-of-SF-acquired-by-Compass-to-13061063.php

OAKLAND (CBS SF) — One of the biggest real estate developments ever seen in Oakland, with more square footage than the new San Francisco Salesforce Tower, may soon be taking shape near the 19th St. BART Station.

The Eastline Project planned for the 2100 block of Telegraph Ave. would address Oakland dearth of office space. The city has the tightest commercial real estate market in the country. A recent ranking of all the commercial real estate available in the country listed Oakland as number one for the least about of vacant office space, ahead of both San Francisco and midtown Manhattan.

The plans for the 1.57 million square foot Eastside development is a sign of a building boom in Oakland. “I would argue that Oakland is ripe for this type of development,” said urban planning expert Malo Hutson. “The question is, if you build it will they come? And I think given the growth in the Bay Area of jobs I think that Oakland is investing wisely to think that, hey, we should build some commercial space.”

The Eastside project would take up the entire block bordered by Telegraph, Broadway, 21st and 22nd Streets, nearly 1.6 million square feet of office space.

“You see a lot of parking spaces around Oakland that are being developed for housing and other things. I think people are looking at it and saying, ‘We’re this close to transit.’ Transit is an issue. We think about environmental issues. It’s an ideal place to build and could be a catalyst for Oakland in terms of bringing good quality jobs.”

Hutson notes Oakland has gone on a housing building spree, with 4,000 units under construction right now and says the ripple effect is two-fold. People can live in Oakland and stay in the city to work, avoiding the arduous commute to Silicon Valley; or they could continue to live near BART stops across the East Bay and shorten their public transit commute by getting off in downtown Oakland.

“Given the fact that there’s so little commercial space in the Bay Area, certainly in San Francisco, Silicon Valley and certainly looking at Oakland, I think it’s a logical gamble,” said Hutson.

Oakland’s Planning Commission has scheduled a vote on the Eastside project on July 18. If it passes, it could be approved later this year by the city council, with construction to begin possibly in 2019.

Article source: https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2018/07/06/oakland-office-development-plan-would-rival-sf-salesforce-tower/

It’s no secret that Bay Area residents have been flocking to Sacramento and other California cities, or even fleeing the state, to escape skyrocketing housing costs.

The minimum wage bump to $15 per hour took effect Sunday in San Francisco, becoming the first major U.S. city to reach that mark. But will that be enough to keep workers in the city by the Bay?

Data and simple math suggest that no, it probably won’t be enough.

Earlier this month, SFGate used National Low Income Housing Coalition data to deduce that at the previous minimum wage of $14 per hour, it would take 171.5 hours per week to afford a two-bedroom rental home in San Francisco. (No need to grab a calculator — there are only 168 hours in a week, so this is actually mathematically impossible.)

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The $1-an-hour boost knocks that number down to 160 hours, which works out to about 23 hours a day, seven days a week. SFGate notes that a household would need to earn $60.02 an hour to live comfortably; in other words, four full-time workers at the new minimum wage can just barely afford a decent, two-bedroom place among them. And they would probably need bunk beds.

An estimated 142,000 workers in San Francisco will benefit from the new minimum wage, the SF Examiner reports. The city has a population of about 870,000.

While it’s a win for many advocates and workers, the $15 minimum wage will likely make only a small dent in the so-called Bay Area exodus, especially as surrounding cities see the massive costs of living and housing continue to rise. In several other counties, including San Mateo and Marin, six-figure salaries are considered “low-income” for a family of four.

Additionally, as pointed out in a recent opinion piece published by the Orange County Register, the “dramatic” increase to $15 has forced some small businesses out of the Golden State. Small-business jobs are leaving, and the residents go with them.

Under state law, $15 minimum wage will be mandatory across California by 2022. The San Francisco increase to $15 an hour in 2018 is the result of a 2014 city initiative, Proposition J, which passed with a 77 percent “yes” vote. The city’s minimum wage is planned to rise in line with inflation going forward.

The East Bay city of Emeryville also reached $15-an-hour on Sunday. Berkeley will reach the mark in October.

Other Bay Area cities are on pace to hit the $15 mark later, closer to 2022. Oakland’s current minimum wage is $13.23 after a 37-cent increase Jan. 1 of this year.

A recent survey by advocacy group Bay Area Council involving 1,000 registered voters found that 461 hope to move out of the Bay Area soon. Of those 461 people, 5 percent said they’d likely move to Sacramento; 24 percent said they’d stay in California.

The median home price in the Bay Area has surpassed $900,000, according to the San Jose Mercury News. In Sacramento County, the median price hit $360,000 in May.

About 60 percent of those polled by the Bay Area Council said they think an economic downturn is coming to the region within the next five years.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Related stories from Sacramento Bee

Article source: https://www.sacbee.com/news/business/real-estate-news/article214132889.html

Housing prices have been growing less and less affordable across the U.S., and no city is a more fitting poster child for that trend than San Francisco.

Paragon Real Estate, a San Francisco real estate company, examined the local multiple listing service and calculated that the median housing price in the city has risen $205,000 since the end of 2017, the highest six-month gain in at least a quarter century.

Paragon said that a surge in both the asking prices for homes and the bids being placed by buyers, coupled with a multi-year decline in the number of homes listed for sale, have contributed to the surge in prices. Housing activists in the Bay Area have grown more vocal in calling for more available housing in the region.

On a percentage basis, the median home price in San Francisco rose 14.5% over the past year to $1.6 million. That’s more than double the 7.2% rise in 2017, but not as high as the 26.1% rise in housing prices in 2000, during the peak of the dot-com bubble. It’s also below the 20% rise in 2007, just before the housing market crashed.

Homebuyers who can’t afford such inflationary housing prices might consider buying a condo. The median price for San Francisco condos rose by $71,000 in the first half of 2018, a comparative bargain.

San Francisco may offer an extreme example of rising home prices, but it also reflects a broader trend in the U.S. The average home price in U.S. stands at around $260,000, after having risen for the past six years, Paragon said.

There are signs that the affordable-housing problems that many residents in San Francisco struggle with are recurring in other cities, albeit at a smaller scale. Home prices across the U.S. are by some measures at their least affordable levels since the financial crisis.

In May, U.S. housing prices rose 7.1% year-over-year, CoreLogic said. A separate survey published this week of property-market analysts showed that they expect prices in 20 of the largest cities to rise another 5.7% this year, followed by a 4.3% rise in 2019 and a 3.6% rise in 2020. Those increases are equal to about double the current inflation rate.

Article source: http://fortune.com/2018/07/06/san-francisco-real-estate-price-rising-record/