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Lack of housing supply is a frustration — a constant one — for prospective homebuyers in the Bay Area. With so few homes available and the region still gaining jobs, competition among buyers keeps driving prices up.

So here’s the good news: A new analysis by Trulia shows the supply of starter homes rising year-over-year in the San Jose, Oakland and San Francisco metros. Any sign of growth is a good thing, given that inventory has been at or near historically low levels for months.

But here’s the bad news: Even with the increased numbers, the supply of starter homes remains alarmingly low.

On average, there are only 360 in the entire San Jose metro (defined as Santa Clara and San Benito counties) in the first quarter of 2017. That’s up 7 percent from 337 in the first quarter of 2016 — not much to celebrate, especially since these numbers include homes of all kinds: new and existing single-family homes, condominiums and townhouses.

In the Oakland metro (Alameda and Contra Costa counties), Trulia reports that the starter-home inventory is up 19.0 percent year-over-year — from 489 to 582. And in San Francisco (San Francisco and San Mateo counties), the numbers rose 11.6 percent — from 190 to 212.

“Let’s be real,” said Ralph McLaughlin, Trulia’s chief economist. “We have a long ways to go for inventory to come back.”

The inventory shortage is nationwide — read about it here — but it’s particularly acute in the Bay Area and other costly markets where even so-called “lower-priced” homes are beyond the means of many first-time buyers.

Consider the median list price of a starter home in Oakland ($409,142), San Jose ($618,333) and San Francisco ($729,833). Historically, starter homes are purchased by households in the lower third of the income distribution curve. According to the U.S. Census, the median household income in that lower third is $32,714 in Oakland, $39,938 in San Jose and $35,294 in San Francisco.

There’s not much likelihood that those earners can now buy so-called starter homes in the Bay Area.

More likely, McLaughlin said, they will be snapped up by investors or bought by mid-tier earners who normally would buy mid-tier “trade-up” homes. Instead, some of those higher earners are now “moving down the ladder” to the starter home market, McLaughlin commented.

The biggest shock comes from Trulia’s comparison of current inventory levels to those of five years ago — in the first quarter of 2012, the year that prices started to recover after the great recession. Over the past five years, total inventory — including starter homes, trade-up homes and premium homes — has declined 59.6 percent in Oakland, 63.5 percent in San Jose and 62.0 percent in San Francisco.

Which makes the so-called housing recovery in the Bay Area a horse of a different color.

“During other housing market recoveries, we’ve seen those recoveries associated with a rise in inventory, rather than a drop,” McLaughlin said. “The fact that we’re in a pretty well-recovered housing market and we’re looking at a decline in inventory rather than a rise is really a head-scratcher.”

Finally, this graph will show you just what the national inventory crisis is all about:

Photo: A home for sale in Palo Alto.  (Paul Sakuma/AP)

Tags: affordable housing, Bay Area housing, Bay Area real estate, first-time buyers, Oakland, san francisco, San Jose, starter homes, Trulia

Article source: http://www.siliconbeat.com/2017/03/22/bay-area-real-estate-suddenly-starter-homes-market-dont-get-excited/

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North Marin office real estate: Subleases swell as companies exit, but rents and prices rise

Like elsewhere in the San Francisco Bay Area, northern Marin County’s office market is experiencing a wave of availabilities as companies give up space, but demand from other employers is firming up rents and sale prices, writes Haden Ongaro of Newmark Cornish Carey.

Article source: http://www.northbaybusinessjournal.com/crereports17

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High on a Corte Madera hilltop, this estate– and with approximately 11 acres and 13,365 square feet of living space, “estate” is no hyperbole– was once the location where the late, great Bill Graham made his home.

The listing write up extols the property’s celebrity:  “Rock n roll history was made here!”, a statement we find easy to believe.  Aside from the seven bedroom, five 1/2 baths and nine full baths, the home also offers a fully equipped music studio with home theatre, a regulation racquetball court, multiple rec/game rooms, a huge kitchen and formal dining room with views of the SF Bay. Outside features include outdoor cooking area and patio; a pool with water slide, spa, and cabana;  lawn, organic gardens and orchard. There’s also a separate, spacious two bed, two bath guesthouse.

Graham estate razed to the ground to build this one

Perhaps the real rock and roll history of this home is something other than its connection to Graham, however. Designed by renowned green architect Sim Van der Ryn, 800 Corte Madera Ave. made news in 2006 when the Marin Independent Journal called it “Marin’s Greenest Mansion.” Though this location did house what was once Bill Graham’s estate, the home you see in the gallery above was actually designed for “Michael Klein, a passionate environmentalist and board member of the Rain Forest Action Network. It replaces the Graham house, which has been razed,” said the Marin IJ in 2006.

Despite the fact that one mansion was “razed” to build another, the extreme green quality of the Klein House achieved accolade:

Hidden behind wrought-iron gates at 800 Corte Madera Ave., invisible from the road, Guitar House, as it’s called, is stunningly graceful, with 40 columns embracing an indoor-outdoor arcade/gallery and two curving entry staircases made of recycled stone from villages in central China. Most of the building material is recycled or uniquely created; columns and other structural elements are made from rammed earth (strengthened by fly ash coal residues) whose strengths were lab-tested just for the Klein house.

Apparently, Klein also loved music: The echo of a guitar shape in the home’s structure as well as the music room reflect “Klein’s love of guitar-playing” and ownership of Modulus Guitars.

Van der Ryn

Architect Sim Van der Ryn has his own fame. Considered a innovator of “green” building and design, his signature incorporation of natural elements as well as “visual meters so occupants can see the extent of the resources they’re using” are both in play with 800 Corte Madera Ave.

So much bling, so many millions

With street cred like Graham, Klein and Van der Ryn, this property lists with a trifecta celebrity price tag: $25,000,000– which makes it Marin’s priciest single-family home on the market now.

Anna Marie Erwert writes from both the renter and new buyer perspective, having (finally) achieved both statuses. She focuses on national real estate trends, specializing in the San Francisco Bay Area and Pacific Northwest. Follow Anna on Twitter: @AnnaMarieErwert

Article source: http://blog.sfgate.com/ontheblock/2017/03/21/25m-estate-formerly-bill-grahams-is-marins-greenest-mansion/

RICHMOND, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–While potential homebuyers feel the squeeze of the San Francisco Bay
Area’s sky-high real estate prices and the cost of rental housing in
surrounding San Francisco, Marin, Berkeley, and Oakland continues to
climb, The
Cove at Marina Bay makes Bay Area homeownership attainable. The Cove
is a 151-residence, coastal development enhanced by breathtaking views
of the San Francisco skyline and acres of open space, perfect for
hiking, dog walking, and exploring. Residences are priced from the
$300,000s.

Official tours for the public will begin at the grand opening event on
Saturday, March 25th from noon to 4p.m. Attendees will be among the
first to explore the numerous high-end amenities of The Cove, and enjoy
delicious food and music while relaxing and mingling on the pool deck.
Tours will include previews of the beautifully appointed residences, the
brand new resort-style clubhouse with state-of-the-art gym, and offer an
insider’s peek into the sales gallery. Register
online and be the first to receive detailed floor plans, pricing,
and exclusive updates for The Cove at Marina Bay.

The Cove’s one- and two-bedroom homes run approximately 750 to 1,000
square feet and feature patios and decks, open floor plans, covered
parking with additional spaces for guests, and classic wood-burning
fireplaces in select homes. The interiors blend coastal influences with
refined modern finishes and feature upgraded kitchens, bathrooms, and
laundry rooms with sleek fixtures and appliances and modern quartz
countertops. Interiors can be easily customized by The Cove’s onsite
design department.

The gated-community is a 15-minute drive from San Francisco and built
alongside a boating marina and popular local upscale restaurant, Salute
E Vita Ristorante. Commuter ferry service to San Francisco is within
a few minutes’ walking distance. The grounds of The Cove feature
beautifully landscaped outdoor community living spaces with tree-lined
walking paths and marina views. Homeowners benefit from the large
resort-style pool and spa, a community clubhouse, and fully-equipped,
club-style fitness studio with the latest in strength training and
cardio equipment. In close proximity to the community are public parks,
tennis courts and recreational spaces including The
Bay Trail that stretches along the San Francisco Bay from Emeryville
to Richmond, and popular Point
Isabel Dog Park. Additionally, a mere half-mile away along the bay
trail is the Craneway
Pavilion, a world-class event, concert and production facility,
where the Oakland Symphony performs.

“The area is a hidden gem in the East Bay. It’s experiencing a great
resurgence, with an influx of new residents, employers, and a bustling
wine, dining and entertainment hub,” said Oz Erickson, chairman of the
Emerald Fund. “There is nowhere else in the Bay that offers stylish
waterfront living for such an attainable price. And, with the new ferry,
it’s faster to get to downtown San Francisco from Marina Bay than it is
from most places in San Francisco itself and you get to live in a
beautiful bayside home for a fraction of the cost.”

“We were living in El Cerrito and wanted to buy a home, but stay close
to our jobs in the East Bay and San Francisco. We love that living in
Marina Bay makes commuting easy,” said neighboring homeowner, Melissa De
La Mora. “Once we are home, we get to enjoy the pools and gym, the Bay
Trail for walking our dog and exercising, and the nearby parks with our
son. The interior of our condo is beautiful, and we loved being able to
customize the finishes to make it our dream home.”

For more information on joining the registration list to receive floor
plans, pricing, and updates about The Cove please visit: http://thecoveca.com

About Polaris Pacific

For more information, please visit polarispacific.com.

Article source: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170320005399/en/Cove---Waterfont-Condominiums-15-Minutes-San

SACRAMENTO (AP) — Cuts to affordable housing funding in President Donald Trump’s proposed budget would be devastating to California, Democratic state lawmakers said Friday, stressing that the White House’s plans increase pressure on them to address the state’s housing crisis.

Trump’s budget blueprint calls for more than $6 billion in cuts to the federal Housing and Urban Development Department, including eliminating Community Development Block Grants and reducing money for public housing.

The blueprint likely faces weeks of negotiations and has already drawn opposition from some Republicans and Democrats in Congress, which must approve the budget. But it still has California lawmakers worried.

The average California home costs about two and a half times as much as the average U.S. home, and average monthly rent in the state is 50 percent higher than the rest of the country, according to a Legislative Analyst’s Office report from 2015.

An estimated 1.5 million California families lack access to affordable housing, lawmakers said Friday, and the state has disproportionately high rates of homelessness.

“This is a housing crisis that preceded Donald Trump, but it is about to be exacerbated by our president,” Assemblyman David Chiu, D-San Francisco, said at a news conference. “More homeless will die on the streets of Los Angeles, San Francisco — the streets of California — if he gets his way. This is why it is important for us to act.”

California lawmakers for years have failed to pass major legislation to address the housing crisis. This year, legislative leaders identified housing as a priority, but the issue is perennially challenging because it draws many competing interests with different ideas about how to address the problem.

Trump’s promised reductions to domestic spending and cuts to the corporate tax rate would reduce available money for individual affordable housing projects by millions of dollars, said Holly Benson of Abode Communities, a Los Angeles group that builds housing for low-income people.

If the Legislature doesn’t act, the proposed federal cuts would severely hamper affordable housing creation.

“We would do a lot less new construction,” if state lawmakers fail to address the problem this session, Benson said. “If we don’t have assurance that there are funding sources there at the end of the day to fund these projects, we are not going to take those risks. We are not going to create new housing.”

Chiu, who chairs the Assembly’s housing committee, has said the Assembly is considering roughly twice as many housing bills this session as it did at the beginning of the previous session.

More than 130 housing bills have been introduced in both houses of the Legislature. They include proposals to fund affordable housing through fees on real estate transaction documents and cutting mortgage interest deductions on vacation homes. Another proposal would put a proposition on the 2018 ballot for a $3 billion bond to fund affordable housing.

Over the past few years, the Legislature has tried to subsidize units for low-income Californians using General Fund revenue. Gov. Jerry Brown has generally opposed those plans, instead favoring approaches to streamline housing construction by curbing local regulations that slow building and increase costs.

Some of the Legislature’s proposals attempt to streamline construction by removing development restrictions in cities that fail to meet housing production goals and by creating incentives for cities to build housing near public transportation.

In his state budget proposal, Brown stressed the importance of building more housing and said he would work with the Legislature to achieve that goal. But “any new funding should not rely on the General Fund,” he cautioned.

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Article source: http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2017/03/17/bay-area-lawmaker-decries-trump-plan-to-cut-affordable-housing-funds/