Zephyr Real Estate
This week Zephyr Real Estate, San Francisco’s largest independent real estate brokerage, reported the following sales data:
Weekly Home Sales Data Of All Houses, Condos, TICs, Lofts, and 2–4 Unit buildings Sold:
What is interesting to me is the consistency of these numbers over the weeks. Our market is certainly affected by the economy and the credit liquidity crisis BUT we are doing pretty well. I’d definitely agree that the San Francisco real estate market is nice and resilient.
Here’s an example from the trenches… Last week, I took offers on a lovely 3 bedroom home in the Inner Sunset. We were asking $899,000. Within 2 weeks, I received 5 offers on the offer date and the property is selling, with a back up offer, for well over the asking price. I can’t say how much higher but it is significant.
In areas with low inventory (most of San Francisco), a properly priced and marketed property will sell quickly and for top dollar. Deals are out there for the savvier buyers but sellers, do not fear. You bought in a world-class City that has very little housing stock. Your equity is safe!
This type of market is an excellent time to move-up. It’s a strategy that involves taking advantage of the market conditions to get a relatively good value on your new home and leveraging the long-term growth of a more expensive home that has more potential to appreciate.
If you think your home has appreciated a lot already and is unlikely to skyrocket up in value anytime soon, you may want to consider cashing out and moving up.
Of course, there are exceptions and everyone’s situation is different. I’m just speaking to a general rule about flat or even down markets… If you’ve been in your home for a while, you have likely seen some good appreciation that is unlikely to duplicate anytime soon.
Happy 4th of July weekend! Go outside, it’s beautiful. See you out there…
