New Listing Market Watch

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

During the last two weeks we saw the drop off in new listings continue, as it always does this time of year.  There were 302 new listings of single family homes and condos during the last 14 days, down from 370 new listings for the prior period.  A year ago for the same period, there were 343 new listings.

The percentage of new listings that went into contract during the last two weeks was 7.9%, down slightly from the previous two-week period but considerably lower than the almost 15% during the same period a year ago.  For condos, the reverse is true:  during the last two weeks 14% went into contract compared to 9% the previous period and compared to 11% a year ago.

The jump in the percentage of condos going into contract is most likely due to the unusually high number of price reductions in condos during the last two weeks:  78 price reductions compared to 46 the previous period and 46 during the same period a year ago.  (Price reductions for single family homes was 28 compared to 25 during the previous period and 35 a year ago).

The number of condo price reductions is the highest we've seen in the three plus years we've been tracking these numbers.

So, as we've suggested previously, condo buyers should be taking advantage of the price reductions available as we approach the holiday season.

New Listing Market Watch

During the last two week the number of new listings matched almost exactly the number of new listings a year ago (370 vs 365).  If usual annual patterns hold (and they have every year since before the last recession) the number of new listings will continue to fall through the holiday season until after the new year.

The percentage of new listings going into contract within the last two weeks has ticked up, double the percentage we saw two weeks earlier.  For single family homes, this is almost identical to a year ago (8.4% vs 8.6%).  For condos, we're still significantly lower than we were a year ago (9.3% vs. 15.0%)

Also notable, during the past two weeks the number of price reductions for single family homes is identical to what we saw during the same period last year (13 vs. 13).  For condos, the number of price reductions is also about the same as a year ago (46 vs 41) and down significantly from the previous two-week period (46 vs 59).

Click here for the full report.

The state of TICs in San Francisco

1. Tenants-in-Common (TICs) are now about 9% of all sales in the condo/TIC market.  This is approximately the same percentage the last four years but well below the peak of 24% back in 2007.

2. Average selling prices are approx. 7-13% less than a comparable condominium.

3. TICs comprise approx. 13% of all condo/TIC listings. Average listing price for 2 bedroom TICs is currently is 9-13% higher than the comparable condo. This is an anomaly since historically TICs sell for below a comparable condo.


Click here to see the full report.