From the Chronicle: Home prices down in 90% of Bay Area Zip codes. A bold statement indeed, and thank God we don’t live in 90% of the Bay Area, but what’s this?

One of the few standouts was the 94114 ZIP in San Francisco, home of Noe Valley, where houses go for well over a million dollars, designer strollers clog the sidewalks, posh shops peddle handmade ethnic tchotchkes, and the Google bus regularly cruises the streets.

But even that ZIP didn’t enjoy the double-digit appreciation that became de rigueur during the real estate boom. Instead Noe Valley prices were up 6.8 percent year over year, from $893 a square foot to $954.

We know full well SF is not entirely immune to the forces of the economy, but the mere fact that we are weathering this storm better than any metropolitan area we can think of, deserves to be noted. The fact that some areas of San Francisco are seeing price appreciation (however small) while other areas of the Bay Area (literally within 50 miles) are seeing price drops upwards of 70% is astonishing.

And apparently, Carolyn hadn’t seen this post, or she’d know a statement like, “Noe Valley, where houses go for well over a million dollars, designer strollers clog the sidewalks, posh shops peddle handmade ethnic tchotchkes, and the Google bus regularly cruises the streets” is sure to cause a stir. We’re prepared to let it slide, are you?

Just noticed something else on that map…does it show most of SF as a “Zip code with fewer than 20 sales”?

–Comment du Jour: The People in Noe Valley Have a Fully Realized Liberal Fantasy [theFrontSteps.com]