San Francisco Real Estate Market Update for 2/26 - 3/4/07
Read what Rick Turley, President of Coldwell Banker, San Francisco/Peninsula said in his latest weekly report:Inventory is not increasing at the rate it typically does in March. The number of pages in our MLS tour sheets is a good indicator, and they are decreasing in both the SF and Peninsula MLS’s this week. We’re hearing of new listings in the pipeline for many of our offices; however we appear to have plenty of Buyers already lined up for these new properties once they come online. In some respects, it’s a good problem to have. Having just returned from our International Business Conference and meeting with the CB presidents from all over the US, most metros would love to have this problem. My take is the market feels “healthy” in the majority of the metro areas, but none seem to be experiencing the sizzling Buyer demand we have in the Bay Area for well-priced, good condition homes. The typical drivers for a healthy market are in place: low interest rates, low unemployment, consumer confidence index is steady – in spite of a recent world-wide stock market drop. Add to that the limited housing we have in the Bay Area, and we should continue to see robust activity at least through the 2nd quarter, provided we have listings to sell.
Multiple offer situations dominate the conversation in most of our offices. Along with the obvious benefits of multiple-Buyer demand, comes the responsibility of educating the Seller on the best method to deal with this level of activity. It’s also important to over-communicate with the agents of Buyers who have an interest in our listings. Pre-emptive offers are more common now, and as the Seller must be the one who decides how to deal with these opportunities, it remains our responsibility to communicate the game plan with all the possible players.
In the $1-2 million range (where inventory still seems to be the tightest) homes are getting anywhere from two to 12 offers. Berkeley indicates that 75% of their sales were in multiple offer situations, and in San Francisco’s Westwood Park, a “contractor’s special” received 33 offers – 22 of which were all cash. In Palo Alto, practically anything on the market for less than $2 million is receiving multiple offers. Listing inventory overall decreased for 6 offices, remained steady for 11 and increased in 10. Sales activity continues its upswing with 15 offices reporting an increase, 10 seeing steady activity, and only 2 reporting a decline.
We get an extra hour of daylight now - let’s hope homeowners put it to good use in whipping their homes into shape for a quick Springtime sale. Let’s also make sure we’re taking full advantage of our Princeton partners, getting our Buyers pre-approved and underwritten in advance, for a super-clean offer.
- Rick Turley
* 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 @ 9:13 AM
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