Hot Weather | Hot Market

Our real estate market is as hot as it has ever been.  Our most recent two week New Listing Report  shows an 11% decline in new inventory coming on the market compared to the same two week period in 2018.  There were 18% fewer single family homes coming on the market during the past two weeks compared to a year ago and condos were down 5%.  Yet June sales through the 17th have been remarkable even by San Francisco standards.  As we reviewed the June sales data a few items stand out.

Average selling prices continue to be at or close to historic highs.  Days-on-market are amazingly short and the premiums paid are shocking.  Here are results for single family homes:

Condo average selling prices continue to set historic highs also.  Their DOM and premiums paid also reflect a very strong demand.

If the market follows recent trends new inventory will decline in number until Labor Day.  Listings are gold in the coming months.  Many buyers will find it a tough market to navigate and win in the face of competition which is sometimes fierce.  And as usual cash remains king.

We also note that total residential sales are down approx. 5% (116 homes) compared to this time in 2018.

New Listing Watch - summer solstice report

For the past two years we've seen an uptick in new listings during this middle week of June, apparently to get properties on the market before the Independence Day holiday.  That's true again this year but mostly for condos.  In the past two weeks there were 196 new condo listings compared to 167 during the previous two-week period.  Single family homes saw only 127 new listings compared to 123 during the previous period.

Compared to a year ago the total number of new listings for the last two weeks was down:  323 vs 361. 

Assuming the usual annual trend continues we should see a significant drop off of new listings until Labor Day.

The percentage of single family homes new listings that went into contract in the same two week period has held fairly steady since mid March -- 16.5%.  For condos it was 17.3% and has been steady since early May.

Price reductions have jumped up compared to the prior period:  16 single family homes saw price reductions vs only 6 in the prior period and 43 condos vs 22 in the prior period.

For the full report, see our web site http://www.boldsf.com/Statistics%20test/Statistics.html

New Listing Watch -- pre Memorial Day

There were 319 new listings during the past two weeks which is fewer by 10% compared to the previous two week period and also compared to the same period a year ago.  Most of the fall off is in the condo market where new listings dropped from 206 in the prior period to 178.

14% of new single family homes listings and 18% of new condo listings went into contract within the same two week period.  That's down a few points for single family homes compared to the previous period and compared to the same period last year.  It's also down for condos compared to the prior period but higher by almost 4% compared to a year ago.

Price reductions were up compared to the prior period for both single family homes (12 vs 7) and condos (25 vs 4).  But price reductions are down compared to a year ago.

The full report can be found at our web site:  www.boldsf.com

Trump and the National Association of Realtors

Invited to address the NAR at its (annual?) meeting last week in Washington, the New York Times reports:

By the time the president took the stage before the National Association of Realtors in Washington on Friday, he was in a feisty mood. 

He recalled that a consultant tried to make work for himself by identifying environmental concerns on a property Mr. Trump wanted to develop. “I fired his ass so fast,” the president recalled.
He told the Realtors that he used to refuse to pay brokers their traditional 6 percent commission and instead gave them just 1 percent. 

“I was famous for that,” he said. When they booed, he quickly retreated. “Don’t worry. Nobody accepted it. But I tried like hell.” 

Then he went after one of his favorite targets — journalists — claiming that recent reports of infighting within his national security team were made up. “There is no source,” he said. “The person doesn’t exist. The person’s not alive. It’s bullshit, O.K.? It’s bullshit.” 

And with that, the television networks had to hit their bleeper again.

This is disappoint (but not surprising) to hear the President of our country behave this way.  (Click on the link above for the full story).

What not to do when selling your home

We see articles like this with similar headlines all the time but this recent article in the Washington Post hits most of the important points:

Letting ego or emotion affect the sale

Overlooking extra fees at closing

Not staging a home

Putting bad photos of your house online

Trying to sell the house yourself

Pricing your home too high

Failing to make necessary repairs

Failing to disclose a defect


Click here for the full article.