San Francisco Real Estate - Residential

San Francisco Real Estate Market Update for the week ending April 26, 2009

Last week I reported on positive indicators in the first-time homebuyer market. New mortgage applications for home purchases and refinances were up 77 percent from the same week in April 2008. Mortgage rates continue to average well below 5 percent – 4.7 percent last week on average for 30-year fixed rate loans and 4.5 percent for 15 year loans. Rates like these are a major factor pushing applications. Nearly 600,000 home buyers have already claimed either the $7,500 tax credit from last year or the $8,000 credit for this year, according to IRS data cited by the National Association of Home Builders.

Statewide, CAR reported improvement in both sales numbers and median price. March existing home sales were up 64% from prior year, and median price had the first month-over-month increase since August of 2007. California’s inventory of unsold homes also fell in March to five months, down from 12.2 months in March 2008, making March ‘09 a three year low for existing inventory.

Locally, I want share what’s going on in the East Bay (Alameda and Contra Costa Counties) which has been one of the markets hardest hit by foreclosures and price declines. We are starting to see some real positive news in this market. Specifically (as displayed in the graph below), when comparing accepted offers to new listings, we are currently at 112% which is a 69% increase year over year and an 86% increase from this time two years ago. The graph tells the story:

Read the entire report here.

posted by SFResidence.com @ 4:22 PM