San Francisco Real Estate - Residential

San Francisco home sales "smarter than the average bear!" market

This week, the National Association of Realtors made the following observations:

"Home sales and home price growth forecasts have been lowered measurably. The past couple of months of housing data have been much lower than anticipated. Take a look at some of the recent figures:

July existing-home sales were down 11 percent from a year ago July pending home sales were 16 percent lower from a year ago July new home sales were down 22 percent from a year ago June and July single-family housing starts were down 14 percent and 17 percent, respectively June and July single-family permits were down 17 percent and 23 percent, respectively..." Read the rest of the article here.

Despite this report, look at July's San Francisco real estate market numbers compared to those above:

• It's true July number of existing-home sales were almost 21% lower from a year ago HOWEVER, the average sales price was almost 3% higher than a year ago!

There's no question that we are in a market slow down. Listings are taking longer to sell. Buyers are doing more negotiating and making offers under the list price. But the economy is doing well. Unemployment is the lowest it has been in years (though the press has spun this as "not as good as expected"). And mortgage rates are still historically low. It's only a matter of time before people realize it!

- Mick Orton

posted by SFResidence.com @ 8:20 AM