Zephyr Real Estate's Fall Market Update for San Francisco, CA

Zephyr Real Estate’s Fall Market Update for San Francisco, CA

Golden Gate Bridge

Over the last twelve months the median sale price of residential properties in San Francisco has risen by 19 percent (not a news flash), and that could be seen as an indicator of even greater increases. Except that over the same period the median asking price of new listings – commonly known as the list price – has increased by 29.5 percent!

It seems that sellers are already testing the upper limits of the market by setting list prices far above the actual sale prices of comparable properties. Why does this matter? In the past this trend has led to a decrease in demand and activity, and a leveling off of sale prices.

We can’t really know if this is the start of equilibrium in the market. History does tell us that as these particular numbers increase, buyers will be the ones sitting on the sidelines.

At the same time the number of listings has decreased by 40 percent (yes, 40 percent!) – hard to be a buyer in a market where there’s not much to buy. If you’ve been thinking of selling, now may be the time.

san francisco on top with livability, eco honors market stats 

This fall, our fair city earned two outstanding commendations. On a national level, San Highest Sales Francisco was named America’s Best City in Bloomberg Businessweek.com’s 2012 best places to live ranking. Its study looked at everything from park acreage to cultural institutions, crime, transportation and air quality, and many other factors.

Our citizens’ high level of education along with recent technology-driven economic turnaround helped us to beat out heavy-hitting contenders including Seattle, New York, and Los Angeles.

Closer to home, we hit another milestone on our journey to become a Zero Waste city by the city’s partnership with Recology has achieved 80 percent landfill waste diversion, making us the Greenest City in North America with a perfect score in the Resource Recovery and Recycling category on the 2011 Siemens Green City Index.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, recycling benefits the economy by creating up to 10 times more jobs than sending garbage straight to the landfill. It’s estimated that if all cities in the United States recycled and composted like San Francisco it would create 2.3 million jobs.

agent’s corner tip 

If this issue is a bit heavy on environmental news, blame it on this wonderful fall weather we’ve been enjoying. We’ve survived the city’s busiest weekend — Fleet Week, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, the America’s Cup, etc. left many heads spinning.

Don’t forget Zephyr’s annual new toy and food drive is coming up; you can drop off donations at any of our offices until December 19.

 If you have questions about our market please call or email me:

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