Digging a little deeper into last Friday's SFGate.com article entitled, "Home prices hint they're nearing bottom," I found a nice, fun fact about San Francisco Real Estate for sale.
"San Francisco continued to hold up best in March, with the median off 24.2%, at $626,500." Sorry, Contra Costa County, you fared the worst with a 47.4% drop in home values to $215,000.
Sure, we may or may not have hit bottom. Sure, home values may or may not continue to decline. No one has that elusive crystal ball, neither you nor I.
Yet, there is strong evidence to suggest that communities like San Francisco will continue to hold their values better than neighboring counties. Why? Supply and demand is a major part of the equation and should not be underestimated.
Even though the "numbers may not make sense" from a traditional perspective, I, for one, am happy I own a home in San Francisco. The potential for appreciation here is just fundamentally greater than in areas that are not finite.
For example, where I'm from in Dallas, TX, there is a lot of land. All one needs is a new Walmart, Cineplex, and Chili's and you've got a new mecca! When I was in high school, Plano,TX was really far away! Or so it seemed. Now, Plano is practically considered city center b/c the suburbs have moved so far past it...almost to Oklahoma! Seriously.
And yes, smartie-pants, I read that Economist article, "Shelter, or burden?" More on that later! 😉
