Foreclosure Activity

ForeclosureRadar is one of the most widely quoted companies on real estate foreclosure activity nationally.  They also break down their data by county and zip code.

Here's their most recent graphs summarizing foreclosure activity in San Francisco for he last year.  Notice the significant fall off in Notices of Default and Notices of Sale in December compared to November and also compared to last December.  Maybe it's just a gesture acknowledging the holiday season, or maybe not.

06075 - Foreclosure Filings

There's also a noticeable uptick in Cancellations and a small but steady decline in the number of properties that ended up Back to Bank.

06075 - Foreclosure Outcomes

Consistent with the above, there's a noticeable decline in properties in the Preforeclosure stage as well as those Scheduled for Sale compared to last month and compared to December last year.

06075 - Foreclosure Inventories

These trends are not universal in the surrounding counties where, for example, Notice of Sale seems to be sharply up and Cancellations are mostly down.

San Francisco Year-end Statistics

The number of sales of single family homes and condos/TICs in San Francisco continues an upward trend since hitting a low in 2009.  We're at about 89% of total sales compared to 2007 and 80% compared to 2006.  Selling prices are not showing an increase yet but, even in San Francisco, laws of supply and demand generally work.  (See following post).

As in most years, the number of sales was down slightly compared to November but, generally, monthly sales in 2011 followed the normal seasonal fluctuations.  (Sorry for the "busy" chart).

Holiday Decorations

For years we've decorated the blue trees (can't find the correct species name) in front of our house.  They started out at a height that didn't require even a step ladder to get lights to the very top.  Now they've grown so high that I can barely reach to top with our fully extended aluminum ladder and, even then, I have to "cheat" a bit by mounting the very highest lights on two foot bamboo stakes and hoisting them to the top where I can't reach. 

No matter.  Every year it's worth the effort, especially for the reaction of kids who come by with their parents.  Apparently, the display has achieved a certain reputation with a number of neighbors commenting on how they look forward to them and were concerned that they might not go up this year.

The video is a little retrospective and our holiday wish for all our friends and neighbors.

(And a greeting from Cleo).

A Concert Surprise

I have to admit I wasn't expecting much from my series concert Friday night.  Right in the middle of the holiday music season, this seemed like an odd program:

Sibelius

Pohjola’s Daughter

Esa-Pekka Salonen

Violin Concerto

Wagner

Excerpts from Götterdämmerung

 

The following nights feature Peter and the Wolf, Colors of Christmas, and of course Messiah.

 

So it was a pleasant surprise to hear two works that were new to me that are definitely worth repeat hearings -- the Sibelius and Salonen's concerto.  And the Wagner excerpts were beautifully done with Christine Brewer as an excellent Brunhilde. 

 

San Francisco Symphony concerts are broadcast locally on KDFC and on the web.  I don't see this concert on the list yet but, if and when they broadcast it, it's definitely worth a listen.

 

As a side note, it was also a surprise to see how many empty seats there were in the hall -- very unusual for a series concert.  Offsetting that were the presence of numerous, enthusiastic younger audience members -- something we need to encourage.

Sales Continue to Increase

The number of sales of single family homes and condos/TICs continues it's upward trend this month.  November sales were 10% higher than October, unusual for this time of year when traditionally the number of sales slows down.

Total sales for the first eleven months of the year are higher than they've been since 2007.  At the same time, prices remain steady.  More about that tomorrow when we post our detailed sales report for November.