homesmillbrae.com

Patrick Smith

Homebuyers are so fed up with San Francisco’s crazy housing market that prices are now falling. 

According to real-estate brokerage Redfin, house prices fell 1.8% year-on-year in March, the first such drop in four years. 

San Francisco is one of the most expensive housing markets in America. Data from the Federal Housing Finance Agency showed that prices rose 20.7% in the area in the fourth quarter, the highest among the most populated metro areas in the US.

Redfin Chief Economist Nela Richardson said in a release that the share of Redfin agents’ offers that faced bidding wars fell to 77% from 94% last year. 

“This suggests that the price drop is not about inventory, it’s about buyers fed up with high Bay Area prices and crazy competition,” she said. 

An undersupply of housing coupled with healthy demand is helping to keep house prices elevated, especially in cities with the best career prospects, like San Francisco.  

Redfin said that unless new listings see a significant boost, sales may halt or decline in many markets as we head into the busy spring season. 

Paragon Real Estate group recently said that the median condo price in San Francisco fell in the fourth quarter compared to Q1, the first such drop in four years. 

Richardson added, “In 2015 sales grew 7 percent nationally but there simply aren’t enough homes for sale to maintain such a torrid pace again this year. No matter how high homebuyer demand is, it takes two to tango, and many sellers are sitting this year out.”

Article source: http://www.businessinsider.com/san-francisco-house-prices-fall-redfin-2016-4

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., April 18, 2016 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — This Sunday, April 24, is the deadline to participate in an extraordinary buying event for some of the finest San Francisco Bay Area real estate. Luxury home auction consultant Guy Masters, in cooperation with Olivia Hsu Decker, the legendary luxury home specialist and co-owner of Decker Bullock Sotheby’s International Realty present this unparalleled opportunity. Each non-distressed property represents the best of the Bay Area.

The California Lifestyle Auction includes the following stellar properties:

A magnificent $28.5 million, seven-bedroom, 16,000 square-foot San Francisco mansion with spectacular views of the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz and the Bay. Completely renovated with amazing architectural detailing, this is a renowned San Francisco ultimate entertainment home that is fit for visiting royalty, grand scale galas and charity events. This property was the prestigious 2008 San Francisco Decorator Showcase.

A $20 million estate compound on three acres of park-like grounds located in the prominent Town of Ross. Six buildings in total including main residence, two guest houses, eight car garage with gym, spa house, pool and cabana, tennis court and a Redwood grove.

An $18.5 million 42-acre vineyard estate located just five minutes’ drive from downtown St. Helena, Napa Valley, the world-class destination for fine wine and gourmet cuisine. Featuring an approximately 10,000 square foot main house and a poolside guest house overlooking majestic views of Spring Mountain Winery’s 900+ acre vineyards and grounds which was the location of the TV series “Falcon Crest.” Also for sale is Juslyn Vineyards. Established in 1998, the vineyard commercially produces an average of 28 tons/vintage of Spring Mountain District grapes including premium Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc that consistently produce 90- to 96-point wines scored by Robert Parker, Jr. Listing at $11 million includes wine label, goodwill, wine club, mailing list, 3 tier and direct wholesale channels and inventory.

A $5.5 million, five-bedroom, 3.5-bath home with 4 fireplaces located on Belvedere’s most exclusive street enjoys mesmerizing views of the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, Alcatraz, Sausalito and the Bay from this contemporary villa.

A $5.65 million, four-bedroom, one-level elegant Tiburon home with pool and panoramic views of Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco as well as the adjacent 101-acre open space preserve.

A $6.995 million, seven-bedroom, 10,341 square foot estate on 2.06 acres featuring a six car garage, guests’ apartment, pool with fireplace flanked by two cabanas and rose gardens. Located in the prestigious Dominican area of San Rafael.

The lifestyle luxury home auction event is the first of its kind in the San Francisco Bay Area. Bids may be submitted up until the deadline: April 24, 2016.

Visit http://www.CaliforniaLifestyleAuction.com for auction information or contact Guy Masters at 1-415-910-0972. To schedule a preview, please email Olivia Hsu Decker at Olivia.HsuDecker@ sothebysrealty.com or call 1-415-435-1600. Brokers with registered buyers are protected.

Article source: https://www.send2press.com/newswire/auctions-this-week-6-luxury-homes-in-the-san-francisco-bay-area-totaling-over-85-million-2016-0418-03.shtml

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Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/17/business/economy/san-francisco-housing-tech-boom-sf-barf.html

A shortage of Bay Area homes for sale sparked bidding wars last month but kept sales low in what was the second-slowest February in eight years, according to a report released Thursday.

Sales of single-family homes were flat from a year ago across the region, the real estate research firm CoreLogic said, but it was a mixed market.

First-time buyers were moving eastward, keeping sales robust there, said Andrew LePage, a research analyst with CoreLogic.

“There’s more activity in some of the inland markets because of affordability,” he said. But overall, sales “are off to only a slightly stronger start than in 2015,” LePage said.

Real estate agents in parts of the East Bay and South Bay said there was plenty of demand — just not enough homes on the market. But in some areas, buyers were giving up.

“A lot of people are dropping out of market,” said Lynne French of Windermere Real Estate in Clayton in Contra Costa County. “For first-time buyers, $739,000 for a house is tough.”

High prices pushed millennial first-time buyers to the edges of eastern Contra Costa County. Sales were up 7.6 percent from a year earlier in that county and the median price of $460,000 was up 2.2 percent.

“Affordability is the issue,” said Jennifer Branchini, a real estate agent in Pleasanton. “First-time buyers are being pushed really far out.”

For Lisa and Brian Johnson, it’s been a war on multiple fronts, competing with downsizing baby boomers and investor-flippers for what they hope will be their first home.

“It’s a difficult market,” Lisa Johnson said. “It’s just highly competitive. You’re fighting off 10 to 15 other people who want the exact same house. And then there are the people purchasing houses to flip them. It’s crazy.”

The Johnsons have been looking for five months and have an offer in on a $290,000 condo in Pacheco, a small town next to Pleasant Hill. “We’re hoping this is the one,” she said.

Low inventory and overbidding drove prices up 15.7 percent to $640,000 from a year ago in Alameda County, while the number of sales dropped 1.6 percent.

Inventory levels “dropped off a cliff in December” and are just now coming back, said Glenn Bell with Mason-McDuffie Real Esstate in Berkeley.

But at this point there’s still a shortage in Berkeley and Oakland, said Barbara Reynolds with McGuire Real Estate.

“Anything on the market is going for $200,000 to $300,000 over asking for houses priced at $900,000 to $1 million,” McGuire said. “There are plenty of buyers,” she said. “That’s the issue. There are 15 offers for every home.”

In San Mateo County, sales were up 3.9 percent over the year, but prices remained below $1 million for the second month in a row at $977,500. Median house prices also dipped below $1 million in San Francisco on a 25 percent drop in sales. It was the first year-over-year decline since February 2012, but LePage cautioned that it could be a one-time blip.

In Santa Clara County, sales dropped 11.3 percent from last February while prices rose 7.7 percent to a median of $862,000. Eight out of the past 12 months have seen double-digit price increases, but LePage said it’s too soon to declare a trend toward slowing prices.

Another factor depressing inventory is soaring rents, which make it tempting to rent out a home rather than sell it.

“The rental market is really good and a lot of people originally trying to sell have decided that rental income is so good, why shoot the golden goose,” said Mark Wong of Alain Pinel Realtors in Saratoga.

Buyers have to jump fast, Wong said. One of his clients snagged a Cupertino home for $1.3 million only by making an offer before the open house. “Buyers want to buy, so the timing is very critical,” Wong said.

Several real estate professionals said they’ve seen first time buyers competing against downsizing baby boomers.

“It’s a generational thing,” said Kevin Kieffer with Keller Williams in Danville. “The empty-nesters are coming in and taking all the properties. The baby boomers are the first-time buyers’ toughest competition, and nine times out of ten the baby boomer is winning.”

The CoreLogic report covers sales that closed in February. These are typically purchases that began late last year or early January.

Contact Pete Carey at 408-920-5419. Follow him at Twitter.com/petecarey.

Article source: http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_29651329/sales-flat-prices-up-february-bay-area-housing

That sound you hear may be some air finally escaping from the inflated San Francisco real estate market.

Home prices in the San Francisco Bay Area fell by 1.8% year-over-year in March, the first such drop in four years, according to Redfin , a Seattle-based real estate brokerage. “For years, San Francisco has been one of — if not the most — competitive markets in the country,” said Redfin chief economist Nela Richardson. “Now we are seeing this white-hot market start to cool and contract,” she said. Richardson noted that the share of Redfin properties facing multiple offers by buyers dropped to 77% in March from 94% compared to a year ago, Richardson added. “This suggests that the price drop is not about inventory, it’s about buyers fed up with high Bay Area prices and crazy competition,” she said.

In the city of San Francisco, the median value of homes has skyrocketed, from $670,000 at the beginning of 2012 to $1.12 million in April , a gain of more than 67%, according to Zillow.com, which puts the gain in the past year alone at 11%, though down from its year-over-year estimate of 14% in February. Last fall, a derelict two-bedroom, one-bath earthquake shack, built in the aftermath of the 1906 earthquake, sold for more than $400,000, 17% above its asking price. In addition, a similar fixer-upper along San Francisco’s famed Great Highway overlooking the Pacific Ocean, within walking distance of the city zoo and Golden Gate Park, sold for $1.2 million.

Brian Tran, a realtor in San Francisco with Vanguard Properties (who represented the seller for the 1906 earthquake shack) said he’s noticed a bit of a slowdown, but only in condominiums. “We are selling a little less when it comes to condos,” he said. “There are a number of large projects that have come on the market recently that have increased the supply and lessened the competition.” Single family homes though “are hotter than ever,” Tran said, especially in the East Bay, as buyers flock to less expensive homes in Oakland and Berkeley.

Zillow isn’t the only company predicting a slowdown in San Francisco’s real estate market. Just two months ago, John Burns Real Estate Consulting of Irvine, Calif., and Pacific Union, a San Francisco real-estate brokerage, said that the Bay Area’s rapid property-value and rental-cost appreciation could suffer a repeat of the dot-com bust of 2000.

“The San Francisco Bay Area is on our watch list for a correction,” Burns said in February, noting what he said was a correlation between declining venture capital awards and real estate prices in the Bay Area, where many tech workers are paid in bonuses and stock options, and suffered greatly during the collapse of the tech industry just over 15 years ago.

In a separate report in February, Fitch Ratings’ managing director, Grant Bailey, said that home prices in the Bay Area had climbed to an all-time high in the third quarter of 2015 and were 10% above their prior peak in 2005 and 62% above their post-recession low of early 2012. “(H)ome prices are roughly 16% overvalued relative to the underlying supporting economic fundamentals,” Bailey said.

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And it’s not just San Francisco. Redfin says pressure has been mounting in markets across the country with month-after-month of price growth, high competition and chronically low inventory. Nationwide, prices were up 4.7 % year-over-year in March, but sales grew only 1%, the smallest increase in 16 months. Despite 6.8% growth in new listings, overall inventory fell 3.2%, an indication that inventory is not keeping up with buyer demand, Redfin said.

Nationally, demand has outpaced supply since early 2015, when inventory began to drop sharply in many metro areas and home sales rose even faster. In hot markets like Seattle, Minneapolis and Portland, Ore., which saw double-digit year-over-year sales growth in 2015, sales are now falling as a result of steep inventory declines.

“In 2015, sales grew 7% nationally, but there simply aren’t enough homes for sale to maintain such a torrid pace again this year,” said Richardson. “No matter how high home buyer demand is, it takes two to tango, and many sellers are sitting this year out,” she said.

Article source: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/could-the-san-francisco-real-estate-market-finally-be-slowing-down-2016-04-15