A report from online real estate brokerage Redfin that was picked up by Bay Area Real Estate website The Registry, among others, has a bit of news that may soothe the souls of would-be local home buyers.
For the first time in four years, home prices in San Francisco dropped — which for those who may not recall such a phenomenon, means they went down, got cheaper, etc. — if only by a slight 1.8 percent, year-over-year, between March 2015 and March 2016. Still, with average growth of 15 percent in 2015, that prices went down at all is pretty significant.
“For years San Francisco has been one of if not the most competitive markets in the country,” Redfin chief economist Nela Richardson stated. “Now we are seeing this white-hot market start to cool and contract."
"The share of Redfin offers facing competition dropped to 77 percent in March from 94 percent last year," Richardson expanded. "This suggests that the price drop is not about inventory, it’s about buyers fed up with high Bay Area prices and crazy competition.”
Of particular interest is that, nationwide, home prices went up 4.7 percent. Sales, however, grew just one percent, which marked the smallest increase in 16 months. Meanwhile, in Oakland and San Jose, prices continued to rise, at three percent and 5.4 percent, respectively.
The 1.8 percent drop in San Francisco meant that the median home price $1,042,500. At the same time, sales went down 22.1% percent. Says Redfin's Richardson: "This suggests that the price drop is not about inventory, it’s about buyers fed up with high Bay Area prices and crazy competition.”
According to Arrian Binnings of Pacific Union/Christie’s International, who spoke with CBS SF, homes are going for less over their asking price than last year — typically they were 12 percent over asking last year, and now, they're just five or six percent above asking.
Related: One-Bedroom Rents Basically Flat Since Last Year, According To New Map