Masks are still required in San Francisco for all showings -- open house, brokers tour, private showings.

Members:   The City and County of San Francisco is dropping the indoor mask mandate this Friday, October 15, but only for spaces/building where a discrete cohort of fully vaccinated individuals meet regularly, such as an office, religious gathering, or college classroom.   San Francisco law will still require masks for all property showings — open house, private showings, broker tour, inspections, etc.   To qualify for the "mandate removal", the space in question must only have fully vaccinated individuals, and those individuals must see each other on a regular basis, and the space should have relatively few visitors.   The indoor masking mandate is still explicitly in effect for all settings that would be accessed by the wider public, in particular retail stores and shared indoor areas with visitors (lobbies, restrooms, building elevators, etc.).   Under the San Francisco Department of Public Health's guidelines, open houses/real estate showings still qualify for the indoor masking mandate because it is an indoor space that receives many visitors or people from different workspaces/households. However, the indoor masking mandate would be lifted for most brokerage offices.   It should be noted that this rule change is specific to San Francisco, due to SF's high vaccination rate and low infection spread. Other counties are implementing separate/different indoor masking mandates.   Please click the button below for the news release from the Mayor's Office and DPH with more information about the indoor mask requirement.   Contact governmentaffairs@sfrealtors.com with any questions.   CLICK HERE FOR THE MAYOR'S NEWS RELEASE       ‌ ‌ ‌ Representing real estate professionals and promoting responsible business practices and homeownership for more than 100 years. VISIT OUR WEBSITE

A look back over the last 3 quarters

 Our San Francisco residential real estate market for the first three quarters of 2021, in spite of all the COVID issues, is having one of the best years in the last 10 for total sales.  Reviewing the variety of reports we do there are a few items that stand out.

For single family homes 53% (1,130 units) of closed sales in the first three quarters had average prices between $1 and $2 million.  Another 15% (322 homes) closed between $2 and $2.5 million.  Followed closely by 275 homes (13%) between $2.5 and $3 million.

Similarly, in the first three quarters of 2021 52% of condos/TICs sales (1,670 units) were between $1 and $2 million.  The next largest group, 18% (582 units) was between $800k and $999k.  16% (536 units) closed between $500k to $799k.

Inventory continues to be plentiful for condos/TICs.  As of 10/10/2021 there was approx. 3.8 months of available inventory (911 units) with an additional 105 in contract and 320 units pending.

It’s a more mixed message for single family homes where there were 325 active listings with 35 in contract and 285 currently pending.  This represents about 1.6 weeks of inventory.  For the two configurations that we track (2 bedroom, 1 bath and 3 bedrooms, 2 baths) there is 4 weeks and 5 weeks of inventory.

Average selling prices for 2/1 and 3/2 single family homes continue at record highs with 2/1 homes averaging $1.33 million and 3/2 averaging $1.75 million.

Annual average selling prices for the three configurations of condos/tics we track (1/1, 2/1 and 2/2) are $825k, $1.14 million and $1.41 million respectively.  These averages are down 5%, 3% and 4% compared to previous highs reached in 2019.

As might be expected, with almost 3.8 months of inventory, these average selling prices will be constrained through the end of the year. 

By the way, TICs as a percentage of condo/TICs sales is now about 6% -- the lowest percentage since 2002.  In most years TICs make up 8-10% of the combined condo/TIC market.  This reduction in market share seems to be mostly the result of the large influx of condo inventory in the past 2-3 years.

Big Uptick in New Listings

In a “normal” year the 14-day period following Labor Day brings one of the largest increases of new inventory coming onto the San Francisco residential real estate market.  This year was no exception with 281 single family homes and a whopping 536 condos/TICs having been added.

 

Compared to the previous 14-day reporting period there were 147 single family home and 187 condos/TICs added.  That’s a 91% increase in single family homes and 187% increase for condos/TICs. 

For a similar 14-day period in 2020 there were 250 single family homes and 459 condos/TICs that were added.  That is an 8% increase for single family homes and 17% increase for condos/TICs.

The influx of new inventory into our market will provide buyers with more opportunities with about 1.6 months of available inventory for single family homes and 3.6 months of inventory for condos/TICs.  And with such a large number of available listings it has also brought 30 price reductions in single family homes and 78 price reductions in condos/TICs.

If the pace of sales holds we are on track to have the largest number of closed sales since 2013.

The full report can be found on our web site.

Signs of Typical Fall Inventory Uptick

 Heading into the Labor Day weekend we're seeing signs of the usual increase in inventory typical in early September. 

As you can see from this overly busy graphic, the number of active listings increases in September, October and early November every year regardless of recession or pandemic. (These numbers are calculated in the first week of each month.  When Labor day falls in the latter part of the first week of September the increase in listings doesn't show up until the early October figure).

The other indication is the increase in "Coming Soon" listings in the MLS.  In San Francisco the number of "coming soon" listings has increased from 170 to 196 in just seven days.  Most of the "coming soon" listings are condos -- 136 compared to 120 a week ago.  "Coming soon" single family home listings increased to 60 compared to 50 a week ago.

Active Listing Down -- Closed Sales Up

 Active listings as of 8/2/21 in San Francisco dropped approximately 9% compared to the prior week (900 compared to 957).  The percentage drop was the same for both single family homes (257 compared to 287) and condos (643 compared to 670).

The number of closed sales of single family homes in July was approximately the same as July 2020 (235 vs 237).  Condos was a different story with 330 closed sales compared to 274 a year ago -- a 20% increase.

The full report can be found in the "3 County Comparison Report" on our website which includes data for San Francisco, Marin and Sonoma counties:

http://www.boldsf.com/Statistics%20test/Statistics.html