San Francisco real estate prices on decline?

by on September 24, 2006

The San Francisco real estate blog did a Craig’s List search and found that the number of listings using the word “reduced” is on the increase. Looks like housing prices are coming down a bit. It’ll be interesting to see just how far they’ll come down. In my neighborhood we just bought into the prices have actually increased a bit, but that’s cause the sun is out and HWY 1 is open again.

  • Jack
    What about this:

    http://www.dqnews.com/ZIPCAR.shtm

    County/City/Area # Sold Aug 2006 Aug 2005 % Change Yr-to-Yr
    HALF MOON BAY 22 $722,500 $917,500 -21.25%
  • I don't know about a 'general decline' but I do feel that the prices on CraigsList are generally inflated.

    We found savings on apartments by searching for lettings away from CraigsList. It seems to me that CL has become such a hot source for accomodation that enough people are using it to warrent high-end/speculative pricing in adverts.

    It could be that the evidence given is just CL retraining itself to the market prices. Never the less, I would look away from CL if you want to find a property bargain...


    Ben
  • Jack: Devil's Slide didn't open up until September, which demonstrates what I am noticing. We got lucky due to the timing of our move here. In just the past month similar houses to ours have sold for $75,000 more than what we paid for ours.
  • Jack
    I wish you the best but I think that you bought on the top. Just my opinion. The game with 20% appreciation per year is over and will be over for the next couple of years.

    http://www.creeksiderealty.com/bay_area_real_es...
  • Christopher Coulter
    Another bubble in pop mode...still high demand, so it won't be as killer, per se. But for the APR and Interest Only's and Mortaged-to-High-Heavens, even a 10-20% drop is killer.
  • If we telecommute do we really need to live in the city?

    Can prices in San Francisco really get any higher?

    I think the list for most expensive real estate in the world goes:

    Tokyo
    Manhattan
    Bay Area
  • LayZ
    What percentage of the the total listings is the 655 number? Not sure this is necessarily an indicitive barometer.
  • Although I work mostly at home, I just love my mid-peninsula location which offers great weather (not too hot like SJ and not too cold like SF) and half-way to everywhere. You should move here Scoble. It's great! ;-p
  • Still too early for an "I told you so." Wait 3 years and then see what houses near you are going for. You'll start to see how bad it can get next year, when all those Option ARMs people are using to buy houses start to reset.

    Interest rates have risen enough that people simply cannot even "stretch" to afford a $700-800K house any longer. This type of situation cannot last, and you'll see houses in the Bay Area being re-priced appropriately in the next year or two.
  • Hal Sampson
    It's only 677 reduced out of 9283 for sale
    http://sfbay.craigslist.org/search/rfs, just 7% initially overpriced listings.

    Long term interest rates have fallen, and since Bill Greene's Law says the monthly payment always goes up, prices should increase a bit, albeit much more slowly than when ARM rates were 3%.
    http://weblogs.hitwise.com/bill-tancer/2006/08/...
    http://www.kqed.org/epArchive/R608180900
  • Usually real estate prices increase over time with the increasing prices of land of a particular area, importance of location to industry, commerce, etc.

    Maybe the big boom in housing in San Francisco is over, and people can't stand the technology-centric town anymore?

    I have no idea, just speculating i guess. I myself live in Melbourne, Australia so what do I know about real estate in SF.
  • If someone has an interest only they aren't building equity for a while, and if house prices sink they will be underwater very quickly. One potential pitfall is that some interest only mortgages have an automatic uptick... if the borrower is underwater and owes 110%, the higher payments kick in.

    My 2 cents: seems all the people who stretched and were willing to sign up for these nutty mortgates already have done so. The prices have a ways to drop before they are affordable to the people who will only buy with a 30 year fixed. There will be some good deals to be had in a year or two.
  • anon
    Larry Ellison's estate at $25,000,000

    http://www.luxuryrealestate.com/73171

    Reduced to only $16,000,000 now!!!

    http://www.larryellisonathertonestate.com/

    Hurry hurry hurry! WILL NOT LAST AT THIS PRICE!!!!!!11111111

    :)
  • San Francisco Real Estate prices are in decline...especially in the East Bay...there are many homes with "reduced" prices.
  • Some Googler should excercise his options and buy that Larry Ellison house...lol

    http://www.realestatejournal.com/buysell/region...
  • ...or better yet Bill Gates.
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