Mortgage Weekly Update - Last Week in Review
Foster Weeks publishes a
weekly mortgage report which is updated every Monday morning. How is this affecting the
San Francisco real estate market? Read our
weekly and
monthly market reports. Here's what Mr. Weeks says about last week's activity:
...Forces were certainly at work to keep the financial markets from being at rest, starting bright and early on Monday morning. The headlines brought a quick shot in the arm for Stocks, as beleaguered Bear Stearns is now expected to see $10 per share in their buyout, rather than the previously expected $2 per share. Great news for the troubled financial sector at large, but Bonds got battered hard, as money flowed out of Bonds and into Stocks - causing home loan rates to rise.
But as the week progressed, some dismal news played out, including a plunge in Consumer Confidence and mixed news on the housing market, which pulled the money right back out of Stocks, and into the safe haven of Bonds...helping home loan rates improve again. But like Newton's famous third law of motion, "every action has an equal and opposite reaction" - Bonds and home loan rates changed course again, on better than expected unemployment claims on Thursday.
Then Friday brought the discovery that Core inflation is perhaps not as hot as previously thought. The highly watched year-over-year core inflation rate was reported at just 2%, as measured by the Fed's favored Personal Consumption Expenditure Index (PCE), and within the bounds of what the Fed would like to see for core inflation. Since inflation is the arch enemy of fixed return Bonds and home loan rates...this news was good indeed, and caused home loan rates to improve once again. Once the dust settled for the week, home loan rates ended up near where they began, before their weekly roller coaster ride...Read the entire report
here.
- Foster WeeksWe are being told by
Stacey Fleece, our in house mortgage broker with
Princeton Capital, that things are very volatile right now with pricing changes day to day. Her recommendation is, if you find a good rate, lock it in before it goes away. There is still a lot of nervousness out there about the economy.
- Janis Stone
Things to do in San Francisco - Part 55 - Smuin Ballet
Michael Smuin (1938-2007), founder of the Smuin Ballet, passed away earlier this year but his spirit lives on in his ballets and through his company. The Smuin Ballet breezes into town at the Palace of Fine Arts with their Fall/Winter Program. The program is a two and a half hour spectacle of emotion, movement and color. Amy Seiwert, a dancer in the company, debuts her Objects of Curiosity - an enchanting exploration of bodies and their movements.
Seiwert's piece studies the human body by accentuating and dismembering its movements. Performed mostly in pairs, bodies are contorted and reassembled unabashedly for their audience. Duettino, the first number by Michael Smuin is minimalist and classical. It focuses on the physical aspect of dancing, in other words, attention is paid to the dancer's body and movement. Visually stunning, it is a harmonious follow up to the program's starter. Stabat Mater, the program's pinnacle, is a dramatic response to September 11th.
In Latin the lyrics of Stabat Mater refer to Mary's sorrow and anguish as she watches the death of her son, Jesus - emotions reflected in the color of costumes and scenery. Smuin's passing provides another (mournful) layer to this heart-clenching performance. Vanessa Thiessen and Aaron Thayer excel as the female and male leads who battle between life and death. Renin' in the Hurricane, choreographed by Kirk Peterson, is a series of performances set to the music of Gene Autry, Cole Porter, David Byrne, Randy Travis, and k.d. Lang. Renin', loosely connected by a western theme, excels in capturing each song's mood and in storytelling.
While campy, in this final act dancers become individuals engrossed with personality. This vivacity makes each performance light hearted and enjoyable, a sharp turn from Stabat Mater. The program overall is well rounded. Lighthearted numbers, which surround Stabat Mater, keep the program balanced, manageable and enjoyable. Bravo, Smuin Ballet. -- Marissa Mejia Performances: Through October 14th Tickets $15-$47
You may also go to our
website for previous things to do. Previous blog posts are:
Parts 1 - 20,
Parts 21-40,
Part 41 - Cable Car Museum,
Part 42 - Transamerica Pyramid,
Part 43 - Camera Obscura and Holographic Gallery,
Part 44 - Moscone Center,
Part 45 - Barbary Coast Trail Self-Guided Walking Tour,
Part 46 - Fort Mason,
Part 47 - Blue & Gold Fleet,
Part 48 - Cherry Blossom Festival,
Part 49 - Flower Power Haight-Ashbury Walking Tour,
Part 50 - Lincoln Park Golf Course,
Part 51 - HANG,
Part 52 - Strybing Arboretum & Botanical Gardens,
Part 53 - Wok Wiz Chinatown Tours and Cooking Company,
Part 54 - Ski Sugar Bowl
San Francisco Real Estate - History of San Francisco
The Golden Gate Bridge was officially opened to pedestrian traffic on May 27, 1937 and to vehicular traffic the next day. The total length of the bridge that many engineers said that could not be built was 1.7 miles. The width of the Bridge is 90 ft while the total original combined weight of the Bridge, anchorages, and approaches was 894,500 tons or 811,500,000 kg.
This information was reprinted from the SFGov's
website.
- Mick Orton
Marketing Director
Fast Facts from CAR and Freddie Mac - February 2008
California Association of Realtors just released its report for February real estate activity.
Calif. median home price - February 08: $409,240 (Source: C.A.R.) (note: compared to $430,370 last month)
Calif. highest median home price by C.A.R. region February 08: Santa Barbara So. Coast $1,295,000 (Source: C.A.R.) (note: compared to $1,135,000 last month)
Calif. lowest median home price by C.A.R. region February 08: High Desert $220,380 (Source: C.A.R.) (note: compared to $234,310 last month)
Calif. First-time Buyer Affordability Index - Third Quarter 2007: 33 percent (Source: C.A.R.) (note: compared to 24 percent second quarter 2007)
Mortgage rates - week ending 03/20:
- 30-yr. fixed: 5.87%; Fees/points: 0.5% (note: compared to 5.48% and 0.4% points last report)
- 15-yr. fixed: 5.27%; Fees/points: 0.5% (note: compared to 4.95% and 0.4% points last report)
- 1-yr. adjustable: 5.15%; Fees/points: 0.8% (note: compared to 4.99% and 0.6% points last report)- California Association of Realtors & Freddie Mac
- California Association of Realtors & Freddie Mac
As you can see from the numbers above, our industry took a hit in February, but judging from our weekly reports for March, I believe we will see a bounce back this month.
Mortgage rates are higher from our previous, even though the stimulus package was passed and the Fed cut interest rates, which indicates that the lenders had already priced in these expected changes.
Check our monthly sales updates to compare San Francisco real estate prices versus the state of California as a whole! We also provide weekly updates on this blog as well as our website.
Remember, on March 14 San Francisco was named a "superstar" city with regard to real estate by the San Francisco Chronicle. A pleasant surprise, indeed!
- Janis Stone
TRI Coldwell Banker San Francisco real estate statistics - last week in review
SFResidence is part of the TRI Coldwell Banker office at 1699 Van Ness in San Francisco which is one of the premier offices in the City and has the market share numbers to prove it. We have some of the top agents selling real estate in the San Francisco Bay Area. As a result, our office posts some impressive numbers.
Our
March 14 article was about the San Francisco Chronicle naming our city as a "superstar" city with regard to real estate. Looking at today's numbers, you can see that things are indeed picking up in the Spring market.
Here are the numbers posted this week: 3/26/08:
- 12 new listings (average price $3,022,583 - low $1,250,000, high $7,700,000)
- 7 ratified sales (pending) (average price $952,143 - low $429,000, high $1,995,000)
- 7 closed sales (sold) (average price $1,351,429 - low $465,000, high $2,395,000)
- Mick Orton
Marketing Manger
San Francisco Real Estate Market Update for the week of March 16, 2008
While Avram Goldman is no longer with Coldwell Banker, he is still a friend and associate with an excellent handle on
San Francisco Real Estate. Here is this week's Goldman Report:
And now, live from New York City ---- The Goldman Report. While I review the activity around our marketplace, my wife Lori is out doing her best to keep us out of a recession.
New York City looks and feels the same. You still can’t get in the best restaurants without a reservation at least two weeks in advance (try two months for Per Se), forget trying to get a ticket to “Wicked” or Broadway’s latest “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” with James Earl Jones, I see a few more sale signs in store windows, but the chic shops are still holding strong. Obviously the restaurants and shops frequented by the Bear Stearns 14,000 employees will be looking for new customers, although many of their employees will find other opportunities. This is still a vibrant city of eight million plus. Haven’t heard anyone talking about the recession. Like San Francisco, NYC is one of Richard Florida’s “super cities”, somewhat insulated from the general economic malaise. Plus, it is close to Europe where vacations in NYC are a bargain. If you love art, food, and theater, there is still no better place in the world to go.
Now back to reality. Given the fall out of Bears Stearns you would think this would have a dampening effect on our local real estate market. The answer is---not much---buyers are still out in force as evidenced by our open house visitors. The majority of open houses are in double digit attendance numbers. Yes, we still have a few slow ones, but they are relegated to those listings that have been on the market forever and those that are located in areas of voluminous inventories. We also had some outstanding ones like the home in Alamo listed for $2.2mil. with over 100 groups through. Montclair and Berkeley offices had a range between 12-80 buyers and San Francisco had several between 25-40 groups. Most offices reported that more buyers are coming into the market.
Sales activity is steady in the majority of our offices, although we did notice open sales falling off in the wine country (Napa and Sonoma). San Francisco still continues to be the most active market where almost 25% of our sales end up in multiple offers. This was the case during the reporting period where multiple offers ranged from 2-7 offers and going from list price to 8% over list. In the East Bay our Montclair and Berkeley offices had almost two thirds of there open escrows end up in a multiple offer. A Rockridge home priced at $799K received 17 offers. One of our agents went $50,000 over, but was one of the lower offers. You can also add to that a Piedmont Avenue home listed at $675K garnering 9 offers. Thus, in spite of trying economic times, there is money and desire to buy homes. Or at least homes that are priced and presented well in desirable neighborhoods...Read the rest of the March 16, 2008 report
here.
- Avram Goldman
President and CEO
Pacific Union GMAC Real Estate
One Letterman Drive, Bldg. C Ste. 300
San Francisco, CA 94129-1492
Mortgage Weekly Update - Last Week in Review
Foster Weeks publishes a
weekly mortgage report which is updated every Monday morning. How is this affecting the
San Francisco real estate market? Read our
weekly and
monthly market reports. Here's what Mr. Weeks says about last week's activity:
The financial markets endured another week of extreme bipolar behavior, with enormous intra-day mood swings that normally wouldn't be seen over the course of several weeks. While Bonds and home loan rates wildly rocketed higher and plummeted lower on a daily basis throughout the week, fixed home loan rates ended up improved by about .25% for the week overall. And last week...the action started unusually early, stemming from some almost unprecedented weekend actions by the Fed.
Last Sunday night, the news broke that the Fed had not only decided to make a move to lower the Discount Rate by .25%, just two days ahead of when their normally scheduled announcement would arrive, but also that they had helped facilitate the bailout of investment giant Bear Stearns. The 85-year-old company had its stock purchased by JPM Chase at $2 per share, for $236 Million...yep, that's Million with an M. Bear Stearns was trading near $90 at the end of February, with a 52-week high near $160. Bear Stearns was the number one buyer of sub-prime home loans, with a huge appetite for this type of paper - and they bought sub-prime transactions with both fists, a strategy that certainly came back to haunt them.Read the entire report
here.
- Foster Weeks
San Francisco Real Estate - History of San Francisco
This is an excerpt from The Virtual Museum of San Francisco
website:
There were about a dozen houses and fifty residents in Yerba Buena (the original name of San Francisco) by 1844. But in 1846 the Hudson Bay Company sold its holdings and left; a move that largely cut down the number of settlers. For some reason, however, the new town proved a magnet for nomads and sailors deserting vessel, and towards the close of 1846 there were some ninety buildings, shanties, adobes and frame houses, and about 200 inhabitants.
Up to January 1847, the little village of shacks and occasional buildings between Sacramento and Washington streets, and from Stockton Street to the bay shore, which then came up to the present Montgomery Street, was known as Yerba Buena.
There was a lively contest between two rival factions on the bay shores to capture the name of St. Francis for their respective towns, Yerba Buena and Benicia. The latter town was then being backed by a number of strong capitalists, led by Mariano Vallejo and Thomas O. Larkin. They were determined to make Benicia the capital of the territory. Washington Bartlett, the first American alcalde, made a successful flank movement and succeeded in capturing the name San Francisco and issued the first official announcement of the change of name.
During 1847, six trading vessels entered the bay. The population of San Francisco was then 459 souls. The exports for that year were valued at $49, 597 and the imports $53,589. January of 1847 brought the first printing press to San Francisco, and on January 7 Sam Brannan published the first newspaper, "The California Star," a weekly of four pages.
- San Francisco Virtual Museum
TRI Coldwell Banker San Francisco real estate statistics - last week in review
SFResidence is part of the TRI Coldwell Banker office at 1699 Van Ness in San Francisco which is one of the premier offices in the City and has the market share numbers to prove it. We have some of the top agents selling real estate in the San Francisco Bay Area. As a result, our office posts some impressive numbers.
What a difference the week makes. After a lackluster start to March, this week had an exceptional number of ratified deals, while new listings remained about the same. As we predicted, the Spring market is coming alive.
Here are the numbers posted this week: 3/19/08:
- 6 new listings (average price $1,415,333 - low $549,000, high $5,000,000)
- 18 ratified sales (pending) (average price $1,159,972 - low $375,000, high $2,995,000)
- 7 closed sales (sold) (average price $1,351,071 - low $585,000, high $4,700,000, 1 confidential)
- 3 reduced (average price $1,116,000 - low $749,000, high $1,350,000)
- Mick Orton
Marketing Manger
San Francisco Real Estate Market Update for the week of March 9, 2008
Read what Rick Turley, President of Coldwell Banker, San Francisco/Peninsula says in his latest
weekly report:
DataQuick, the real estate information service that the media drools over every month, issued yet another gloomy report on Thursday. Frankly, I think the reports received from our offices each week, and from talking to all of those hardworking Coldwell Banker Sales Associates in the field, should be what’s making the headlines in our newspapers instead of DataQuick’s latest monthly statistics. We are actually working with buyers and sellers and understand our local markets. We comprehend the intricacies of the various communities and neighborhoods we work with, and we actually know what’s happening out there. Quite simply, they don’t know what we know about the market TODAY. They can only report on what closed last month based on transactions that began 30 to 90 days prior. We need to continue to remind our buyers and our sellers that what they see in the newspaper today is a reflection of the recent past – not necessarily a snapshot of the current market. Yes – it’s been a challenging market overall as of late, but we see definite signs of improvement now that just aren’t reported anywhere else.
Here’s something current that I haven’t read about – we’re seeing a drop in month’s supply of inventory in virtually every county in our area. We’re seeing an increasing number of homes going into contract. We’re seeing open houses in most areas that continue to teem with buyers anxious to take advantage of the low rates and plentiful selection. We’re seeing a boost in the number of first-time buyers who don’t have to sell an existing home in order to make their purchase. We’re seeing high-end homes selling off-market - meaning that they sell without ever hitting the MLS - often with multiple offers and well over the asking price, (this also means that DataQuick won’t account for those homes in its statistics for sales and median prices next month).
Read the rest of the March 9, 2008 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.
Mortgage Weekly Update - Last Week in Review
Foster Weeks publishes a
weekly mortgage report which is updated every Monday morning. How is this affecting the
San Francisco real estate market? Read our
weekly and
monthly market reports. Here's what Mr. Weeks says about last week's activity:
...if Bonds and home loan rates thought they were out of the days of volatility...they got pulled right back in, as last week brought daily price swings of almost historic proportions. For the week overall, fixed home loan rates improved by about .25%.
What led to the dramatic action this week? The bipolar emotional state of the markets began deeply depressed on Monday, but then were filled with joy Tuesday, when the Fed made an interesting move by announcing the creation of the new Term Securities Lending Facility (TSLF). The TSLF will provide borrowing banks with $200 Billion to draw on to help inject liquidity into the credit markets, and further, will accept some mortgage-backed securities as collateral, which effectively may help to "upgrade" the value and perception of battered Mortgage Bonds.
But in the meantime...struggles are still being played out related to the downgrade and losses experienced by companies holding massive amounts of mortgage-backed securities. Headlines hit on Thursday about The Carlyle Group, which manages a portfolio of mortgage-backed securities, not being able to meet a margin call and being forced to sell off large amounts of mortgage paper into the markets at great financial losses. Then on Friday, the news broke that financial brokerage and investment banking giant, Bear Stearns had suffered enormous losses, and their lack of liquidity endangered them from going out of business...or "sleeping with the fishes". The new aforementioned TSLF is designed to help this type of liquidity problem, but it will not go into effect for a few weeks, and Bear Stearns would not last that long. Coming to the rescue with loans were both the NY Fed and JP Morgan Chase. These sure are exciting times.
One bright spot for the financial markets was a low consumer inflation reading. The Overall and Core Consumer Price Index (CPI) figures were reported unchanged, far cooler than the expected increases of 0.3% and 0.2% respectively. These tame inflation numbers give the Fed a green light to cut the Fed Funds Rate by another .75% at Tuesday's meeting...but read on to understand exactly how this cut may impact YOU.
Read the entire report
here.
- Foster Weeks
San Francisco Real Estate - History of San Francisco
San Francisco has a rich history. As early as June 29th, 1776 (5 days before the signing of the Declaration of Independence according to San Francisco History
website),
Mission Dolores had its first mass. This mission still stands and is featured in our 7th article on "Things to do in San Francisco".
The first colonizing party arrived in 1776 to found the Presidio of San Francisco and Mission Dolores. La Misión de San Francisco de Asis (Mission Dolores) is designated as Registered Landmark Number One of the City and County of San Francisco. The Mission Church is the oldest intact building in San Francisco, and one of the oldest Mission Churches in California.
Mission Dolores was the sixth of 21 missions established by the Franciscans.
San Francisco Chronicle declares San Francisco "superstar" city!
Finally the
Chronicle published a good real estate story about San Francisco on Sunday declaring it a "superstar city", defying the economic downturn.
Carol Lloyd, normally a gloom and doomer (though she does "scratch her head" as to why Bay Area cities have bucked the trend... wishing there was gloom and doom???), does admit that San Francisco is not following the national downward trend of real estate.
We knew this all along, though sales volumes are off, prices are not.
-Mick Orton
Marketing Director
TRI Coldwell Banker San Francisco real estate statistics - last week in review
SFResidence is part of the TRI Coldwell Banker office at 1699 Van Ness in San Francisco which is one of the premier offices in the City and has the market share numbers to prove it. We have some of the top agents selling real estate in the San Francisco Bay Area. As a result, our office posts some impressive numbers.
This week is slightly off from the last few weeks. As the nice weather gets dialed in, I believe you will begin to see more and more activity, regardless of what the news media says about the mortgage crisis. This Friday watch for my analysis of a story from the San Francisco Chronicle from Sunday by Carol Lloyd, an unusually positive story!
Here are the numbers posted this week: 3/12/08:
- 5 new listings (average price $1,000,400 - low $639,000, high $1,350,000)
- 7 ratified sales (pending) (average price $2,033,286 - low $849,000, high $3,995,000)
- 6 closed sales (sold) (average price $927,333 - low $395,000, high $2,195,000)
- 1 back on the market (price $699,000)
- Mick Orton
Marketing Manger
San Francisco Real Estate Market Update for the week of March 2, 2008
Read what Rick Turley, President of Coldwell Banker, San Francisco/Peninsula says in his latest
weekly report:
It’s official. The Department of Housing and Urban Development has released the amounts of increases in the conforming loan limit for FHA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac secured loans. This is great news for Bay Area homeowners, home buyers and home sellers alike. For homeowners, the increase may allow them to refinance their existing “jumbo” loans at a lower rate of interest. For buyers, it may make getting a loan much easier and cheaper. For sellers, it ought to spur fence-sitting buyers to take more immediate action and start writing offers on all those open houses they’ve been flocking to for the past weeks. Though there is a possibility that the increases will be permanent pending new legislation, for now the conforming loan limit increases are only confirmed through the end of 2008. Buyers have a distinct time-frame through which to take advantage of this opportunity. Move-up buyers and first time buyers both have a terrific break right now to find the home of their dreams.
The new increased limits (up to 125% of an area’s median home price) impact practically all of our Bay Area Counties. Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco and San Mateo all qualify for FHA, Fannie and Freddie increases up to the cap of $729,750. Sonoma County’s FHA conforming loan limit increases up to $662,500, and for Solano, the increase is up to $557,500.
We aren’t certain when new loan products will actually hit the market and become available, but it shouldn’t take long. Lenders have to be pre-approved to offer FHA loans, so it’s more important than ever for buyers to be working with skilled real estate professionals who have the connections and resources necessary to make recommendations and guide their clients toward reputable, pre-approved lenders. Our Princeton loan officers are doing a great job keeping us abreast of new opportunities.Read the rest of the March 2, 2008 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.
Mortgage Weekly Update - Last Week in Review
Foster Weeks publishes a
weekly mortgage report which is updated every Monday morning. How is this affecting the
San Francisco real estate market? Read our
weekly and
monthly market reports. Here's what Mr. Weeks says about last week's activity:
...Bonds and home loan rates just experienced one of the most volatile, crazy weeks ever seen, with fixed home loan rates rising by about .375% by the time the smoke cleared.
During the first four days of last week, Bonds underwent a crazy 313 basis point sell-off - more than they sometimes move over the course of six months. Why the insane action? Uninspiring commentary from Federal Reserve officials, renewed fears of inflation...and another very interesting story playing out last Thursday. Losses from The Carlyle Capital Group and Thornburg Mortgage decreased their capital to the point where their financial backers had asked for cash back in the way of a "margin call". What does this mean?
Imagine a home that received a loan for 50% of the value...but a provision in the loan stated that under no circumstances could the equity fall below 50%. And the home would need to be appraised every day to evaluate this. If the home lost significant value, the lender would be entitled to an immediate payment to retain the 50% equity position. So if the home did indeed decline in value, the lender would make a call for capital to make sure their 50% margin of loan-to-value remains intact...hence the name margin call. If the homeowner had the cash to meet this call - all is well. But if the homeowner did not have the cash, the only way to satisfy the lender would be a sale of the home. And that is basically what Carlyle Capital Group and Thornburg Mortgage had to do last Thursday...they didn't have enough cash on hand to meet their margin call, so they were forced to sell home loans that they were holding. This flood of mortgage paper on the market pushed Mortgage Bond prices lower...much lower.
The week was shaping up to be one of the worst in history for Bonds and home loan rates - but then, remembering that weak financial news is good for Bonds and home loan rates, Friday's utterly dismal monthly Jobs Report came to the rescue. On the report that there were a net loss of 63,000 jobs in the US last month - as well as negative revisions to previous months reports - Bonds rocketed back higher, at least enough to erase the previous day's losses, but still ended significantly worse off for the week overall...Read the entire report
here.
- Foster Weeks
Things to do in San Francisco - Part 54 - Ski Sugar Bowl
If you're up for a day trip and enjoy skiing, there is still a lot of snow and great spring skiing at Sugar Bowl. Only about an hour and a half out of Sacramento on I-80, take the Norden, Soda Springs exit and turn right at the stop sign. About 3 miles up the road is the entrance to Sugar Bowl.
A friend and I went yesterday and the runs were well groomed, though a little icy early morning and late afternoon. For a day trip this resort is perfect because it's much closer than Alpine or Squaw and has longer runs than Boreal or Soda Springs (so I'm told). We like to go mid-week to avoid the crowds. And if we get more rain next week as predicted, there's a chance some of it will end up as snow at the higher elevations!
- Mick Orton
Marketing Director
Previous things to do:
Parts 1 - 20,
Parts 21-40,
Part 41 - Cable Car Museum,
Part 42 - Transamerica Pyramid,
Part 43 - Camera Obscura and Holographic Gallery,
Part 44 - Moscone Center,
Part 45 - Barbary Coast Trail Self-Guided Walking Tour,
Part 46 - Fort Mason,
Part 47 - Blue & Gold Fleet,
Part 48 - Cherry Blossom Festival,
Part 49 - Flower Power Haight-Ashbury Walking Tour,
Part 50 - Lincoln Park Golf Course,
Part 51 - HANG,
Part 52 - Strybing Arboretum & Botanical Gardens,
Part 53 - Wok Wiz Chinatown Tours and Cooking Company
TRI Coldwell Banker San Francisco real estate statistics - last week in review
SFResidence is part of the TRI Coldwell Banker office at 1699 Van Ness in San Francisco which is one of the premier offices in the City and has the market share numbers to prove it. We have some of the top agents selling real estate in the San Francisco Bay Area. As a result, our office posts some impressive numbers.
Each week seems to get a little better than the last. As you can see from the numbers below that things are definitely starting to pick up.
Here are the numbers posted this week: 3/5/08:
- 11 new listings (average price $1,253,091- low $650,000, high $1,850,000)
- 7 ratified sales (pending) (average price $1,731,143- low $625,000, high $4,700,000)
- 12 closed sales (sold) (average price $1,135,667 - low $395,000, high $5,500,000)
- 2 reduced price (average price $1,107,000)
- Mick Orton
Marketing Manger
San Francisco Real Estate Market Update for the week of February 24, 2008
Read what Rick Turley, President of Coldwell Banker, San Francisco/Peninsula says in his latest
weekly report:
While listening to the radio the other day, I heard a news report stating that consumer confidence has plummeted in February to a 17-year low. The reporter went on to discuss how fears about the housing market and its impact on the economy are major factors in the increasing pessimism of the American consumer. Later, however, I found the actual consumer confidence index report online and, upon reading it, discovered this little nugget: Those with plans to buy a home rose in February from 2.5% to 2.7%. It was actually one of the few areas of the report that had improved month over month. I’m still trying to figure out how that news reporter wound up blaming the country’s real estate market for a decline in consumer confidence when the index clearly states that confidence in home buying is improving. The index also notes that consumers with plans to buy major appliances increased from 30.6% to 30.9% - maybe those new appliances will be installed in their new homes?
During a rainy holiday weekend, it became apparent that there are an increasing number of buyers who are getting serious about hopping off the fence. Though many seem to be waiting for the conforming loan limit increase in the economic stimulus package to take effect, there are also many who are taking advantage of the affordability existing in many of our markets right now. Buyers that are waiting to see a bottom would be best served by jumping in now. Typically, by the time we can see a bottom in the charts we are well past it and on the way back up. In areas with higher levels of inventory, price, condition and location continue to be crucial factors in home sales at virtually every price point. When those elements are balanced, we are seeing multiple offers. We are also starting to see inventory levels stabilizing in many areas – Danville being a case in point where inventory remain unchanged week over week, but new pending sales increased by 67%!Read the rest of the February 24, 2008 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.
Mortgage Weekly Update - Last Week in Review
Foster Weeks publishes a
weekly mortgage report which is updated every Monday morning. How is this affecting the
San Francisco real estate market? Read our
weekly and
monthly market reports. Here's what Mr. Weeks says about last week's activity:
..[we] would certainly consider Bonds to be a success last week, as they moved lower to hit a technical "bottom" at the 200-day Moving Average, but then bounced significantly higher throughout the course of the week, helping fixed home loan rates improve by about .25 to .375%.
What caused all the activity? Remember that weak economic news tends to be bad for Stocks, but good for Bonds and home loan rates, as money flows out of Stocks and into Bonds. And last week had its share of weak economic news, combined with testimony before Congress by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke.
The news included higher wholesale inflation with the Producer Price Index (PPI) jumping to its highest level since October 2004 on surging energy and food prices. But price inflation on the producer or wholesale side can't always get passed directly on to the consumer on the retail side. Friday's Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) reading showed consumer inflation to be higher, but just slightly, as expected. The PCE is the Federal Reserve's most highly watched measure of inflation, and the current overall rate of year-over-year inflation at 2.2% does remain just above the Federal Reserve's comfort zone for consumer inflation.
And speaking of the Fed, Chairman Ben Bernanke testified before Congress last week, making comments that prompted Stock investors to sell off and move money over into Bonds. The Bond market also enjoyed "dovish" comments made by Gentle Ben about inflation and the recent aggressive cuts made by the Fed, and his testimony was largely responsible for the improvement in Bonds and home loan rates. But read on, and learn how the next official Fed Meeting and Rate Decision on March 18th could impact home loan rates...it might surprise you.Read the entire report
here.
- Foster Weeks
Sometimes government is good?
This is an opinion article with regard to the current housing situation.
As you know if you listen to the news, they are really hyping the mortgage "crisis". Of course they thrive on bad news anyway, so it is not surprising that they go to places where foreclosures are plentiful.
Why has this not happened in San Francisco? Why does the market continue to chug along at a healthy rate? In my opinion, it's the fact that there's not a lot of new construction, and there has not been a lot of over-building.
Usually I am very critical of San Francisco government which is heavy-handed toward builders. But in this case, it seems to have worked in the favor of real estate sales. Again, it's supply versus demand and, because there is not a lot of new supply and the demand remains high, prices stay up... at least for now.
Without a crystal ball, it is impossible to tell what the future holds. Some experts predict the worst will be over by spring when inventories nationally level out; others say we won't recover on a national level until mid-2009. As far as San Francisco goes, who can say? But so far, so good.
Look at
February numbers on our website. This is usually a very slow month for us, but sales were strong and selling prices were slightly over 100% of the listing prices.
- Mick OrtonMarketing Director
March San Francisco Real Estate Market Update for February 2008
Here are the February numbers from the San Francisco Multiple Listing Service (
SFARMLS) which we also published on our
website for our March report.
What do these numbers all mean? February is typically another slow month for us. However, with nice weather coming after a very rainy beginning to the month, buyers seem to be out in mass. Notice that the average listing prices are very close to the average selling prices, which indicates that sellers are pricing their homes close to or slightly under the actual market value in order to attract more buyers. As a result, selling prices are very close to what people are asking for their homes. The lower days on the market indicates a healthy San Francisco Real Estate market.
Read more of the March analysis of February San Francisco Real Estate Sales
here.
- Mick Orton
Marketing Director
