San Francisco Real Estate Market Update for the week of January 20, 2008
Read what Rick Turley, President of Coldwell Banker, San Francisco/Peninsula says in his latest weekly report:On Tuesday of this week, the Feds slashed the Federal Funds rate and the Discount rate by three-quarters of a percentage point. This move is a positive sign for homebuyers as well as homeowners with adjustable rate mortgages – the cut puts more downward pressure on mortgage rates. Rates have been moving down for several months now and Tuesday’s cut helps to continue this movement. Lower rates increase the affordability of homes. In addition, this week we had an Economic Stimulus Package that was announced from our nation’s capitol which, in addition to cash payouts to most Americans, included plans for a temporary increase in the conforming loan amount. Conforming loans are currently set at $417,000 and, according to various reports from Washington D.C., the plan would increase the conforming loan limit to somewhere between $615,000 and $725,000 in high cost areas - for a specified amount of time. It is this sort of news, especially in the Bay Area where home price medians far exceed the conforming loan limit in many areas, that should motivate more homebuyers to recognize that now may be the absolute best time to get into the market, and to take action sooner rather than later. I encourage sales associates, homebuyers and home sellers alike to contact their respective congressional representatives and lobby for their support for this component of the economic stimulus package.
In other good news, it seems that buyers are still out in droves in many parts of Bay Area and are snapping up excellent deals, and writing offers. There are still challenging micro-markets to be found, but even many of those are seeing an upswing in activity – and the high end market continues to thrive in practically every one of our markets. In Livermore, three different homes priced between $1million and $1.6 million had multiple offers on them. In Novato there is a surge in activity for homes prices above $1million, and the entry level market is also very active. In San Francisco, there were 10 offers on a Noe Valley listing, seven offers on a Colma property that was “a physical disaster” but perceived as a value, and a Potrero Hill home sold for $150,000 over asking. In Menlo Park, the right property “brings the buyers of the woodwork.” Inventory is creeping back up in some areas, creeping down in other areas and stagnant in others...
Read the entire report here.
- Rick Turley
* For an e-mail alert when this report is updated, send an e-mail to info@SFResidence.com with "weekly market report" in the subject line.
posted by SFResidence.com @ 8:28 AM
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