San Francisco Real Estate - Residential

San Francisco Real Estate Market Update for 10/23 - 10/29/06

Avram Goldman, President and COO of Coldwell Banker, San Francisco Bay Area said in his latest weekly report:

"The market is a kaleidoscope. It has many colors and variations. The picture changes every week. The design changes quickly. There are elements that remain the same and those that change erratically.

"Open home activity remains positive overall. The buyers are out there and writing contracts or about to on the most desirable properties---right price and right presentation. Interest rates have been falling over the last 60 days, although clouds on the horizon could mean that they could rise soon according to the Fed. Those sellers that are adjusting prices to meet market reality are finding their homes in escrow.

"Listing inventories continue to decline slowly. We are still under the inventories of 2002 and 2001. This is a step in the right direction. Those sellers that are not prepared to sell in this market are either lease their homes or take them off the market. This is creating a view that the market is not overcrowded- or oversupplied. This change is prompting a greater sense of urgency among buyers.

"Negotiation is the name of the game. Transactions are taking longer to put into escrow and negotiations last through the escrow in some cases. It requires patience on both sides. Emotions run high, making it challenging both for sellers and buyers. Agents can make a difference in keeping both sides talking and rational.

"As has been the case most of the year and particularly most recently, the upper end of the market in those areas with reduced inventories is active. We have seen a number of sales in the upper single digit and double digit million dollar categories. Obviously those with the means are still seeing real estate as a prime long term investment.

"Multiple offers occurred in over 60% of our offices. The strongest areas of multiple offers continue to be SF and the Peninsula. We continue to see a rise of activity in Sonoma county and parts of Alameda county (north and central). Contra Costa county continues to be the sluggish in sales and Marin county (except in the most affordable areas) has slowed in recent weeks.

"The most positive news is that our open sales volume in October was only off 14% from last October. This is significant, as we have been running in the low 20’s most of the year. At this point it looks like the market is settling into a sustainable pace. This could be the soft landing that a number of economists have been talking about---a market that is reaching equilibrium.

"Here are the numbers for the week: 6 offices reported increasing inventories, 17 steady and 9 declining----8 offices showed increasing sales activity, 16 steady and 8 decreasing (that’s balance)."

- Avram Goldman

* For an e-mail alert when this report is updated, send a note to info@SFResidence.com with "weekly market report" in the subject line.

posted by SFResidence.com @ 7:34 AM