Annual Median Sales Price Continues to Zoom Up

Most of our reports and statistics focus on specific configurations of single family homes and condos.  For buyers and sellers that tends to provide a more realistic picture of the slide of the market their property or prospective property lies.

On the other hand it's useful to step back occasionally and look at the whole picture.  Here's what the annual median sales price for single family homes and condos/TICs/co-ops looks like since 2000:

(Click to enlarge)

The blue line shows the annual median sales price trend.  The median sales price in 2011 was 6% lower than the previous year.  In 2012 the median sales price was more than 12% above 2011 and that trend continued in 2013 when the median sales price increased almost 16% over the prior year.

So far this year (first two months) the median sales price has been almost 12% over 2013.  Prior to the economic downturn the highest annual median sales price was in 2007 which we have now far surpassed.

At the same time, inventory has struggled to keep pace.

(Keep in mind these numbers are derived from listings/sales reported in the San Francisco Association of Realtors MLS system so they do not include private sales and sales of many/most new construction condos).

Spring is Officially Here

For us, there's no better confirmation of the arrival of spring (and the spring market) than the blooming of our wisteria vines in the back yard:

More photos at:

https://plus.google.com/photos/104904464641332211240/albums/5991508865093450721

Market Heating Up, Again?

Our every-two-week look at how many new listings have gone into contract within 14 days of listing has just been updated:

After a big spike before Thanksgiving and then the usual lull during the holidays, we're back at a level where 20% of new listings of single family homes are going into contract within two weeks.  Condos are moving quicker with 25% in contract within two weeks.

Annual Sales Volume

There was a misleading headline in one of the local real estate blogs recently suggesting that "Fewer San Francisco Homes Sold In 2013 Versus 2012".  But the annual numbers reported in that post actually referred the full bay area, not just San Francisco.  In San Francisco, despite tight inventory pretty much all year long, the number of residential sales in San Francisco was actually up by 2.7% in 2013 compared to 2012 (according to the MLS).

The post went on to say that December sales were down compared to the previous year (that also shows up in the MLS numbers) but it also said that the median sales price was down which is not supported by MLS numbers which show an increase of 11% compared to December 2012 median sales price ($849,444 compared to $765,500).

The actual differences of the number of properties sold are fairly trivial and it's important to note that the MLS numbers represent mostly resale properties and don't include most new construction sales.  Nevertheless, the implication of the post was that sales and prices are slowing down in San Francisco which is not what the local numbers actually show.

Pulse of the Market

Our bi-weekly look at early trends in the San Francisco real estate market:

Of course this covers the holiday period from just before Christmas so no one is surprised that the number of new listings is down significantly.  But this also shows there is less competition for the existing listings.

Total number of new listings for single family homes was down as was the percentage of those listings that went into contract within two weeks.  New condo listings was also down was essentially flat as was the percentage that went into contract within two weeks.