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.

Pulse of the Market

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

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 listings of condos was essentially flat and then percentage that went into contract within two weeks was down slightly.

Fall Back

Just a reminder if you're staffing or planning on attending an open house this on Sunday:

Pulse of the Market

Here's the latest edition of our look at new listings that go into contract within 14 days.

We use this statistic go help confirm our own observations and anecdotal evidence about whether the market is heating up or slowing down.  It gets us much closer to the point of decision making than most other statistics, including our own, that rely on sales prices that only become available after the property closes escrow.  In a normal market the decisions about offer and acceptance are made as much as six to eight weeks before the sales price is reported.