According to today’s article in SFGate regarding San Francisco Real Estate, things ain’t that bad and actually might be getting a bit silly. It all kind of makes sense, seeming how three of the most popular tech companies in the world right now (Apple, Twitter, and Facebook) are within our greater metropolitan area:
Sales of houses and condominiums in San Francisco jumped 50 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier and the median price rose 5.4 percent to $685,000, according to a multiple listings analysis by Terradatum Inc. House values will gain 7 percent this year, the biggest annual increase since a 9 percent advance in 2005, Rosen Consulting Group forecast last month.
“San Francisco has conditions of very restricted supply and lots of things that can push demand: an attractive climate, innovative economy and high quality of life [Haven’t we been saying this for years!?],” said Harvard University economist Edward Glaeser, who has studied U.S. housing bubbles.
Could this mean the return of the Maximum Overbid we coined on sfnewsletter? Time will tell, but if you’re on that fence thinking of buying, you might want to get in the game.
–Tech Lifts San Francisco Home Prices as Ocean View Gets 26 Bids [SF Gate]
I looked at the MLS sales volume and median sales prices year over year today, and sales volume is up about 38% for SFRs and condo/TICs, from 1354 in 2009 to 1875 in 2010. Median price is also up across just about all price tiers I looked at, which were 650 – 800K, 800K to 1M, 1M to 2M, 2 to 3M, and 3M or higher. 3M or higher was the only one that showed a lower median, and it was down about 70K. But there have been 35 2010 sales to 19 2009 sales for that tier.
It looks like 2010’s sales volume is going to surpass 2008’s sales volume YoY this week. 2010 stands at 1895, 2009 was at 1362 6/8/9, and 2008 was at 1901 6/8/8. Considering the sea change that happened in mid September 2008, 2010 volume should easily surpass 2008 volume.