San Francisco Real Estate Market

The San Francisco real estate market is rallying rather strongly after the doldrums of the economic recession. According to an April 21, 2010 article in the San Francisco Chronicle, “Fewer homeowners in the Bay Area and California headed down the path toward official foreclosure in the first three months of 2010 compared with the prior quarter and with a year ago, according to data released Tuesday. The research findings correspond with efforts by the federal government and some mortgage lenders to help distressed borrowers with loan modifications and facilitating short sales, the process in which banks allow homes to be sold for less than what is owed on the mortgage.” The article, which was written by Robert Selna, continued to state that “In another trend, while mortgage trouble remains more prevalent in lower and moderate-price areas, it appears to be increasing in some affluent Bay Area ZIP codes. The number of notices of default, which is the first step in the foreclosure process, declined in both the state and the Bay Area during the most recent quarter ending in March, according to MDA DataQuick, a San Diego research firm.”

The prices and sales volume of San Francisco homes for sale continued to rally in the month of March, according to an April 15, 2010 article in the Contra Costa Times by Eve Mitchell. This piece stated that “Bay Area homes sales in March climbed sharply from February while the median price of $380,000 paid for a home was 31 percent higher than a year ago, a tracking firm reported Thursday. A total of 6,992 new and resale single-family houses and condominiums closed escrow in March, up 40.2 percent from February and up 10.5 percent from March 2009, said a report released by MDA DataQuick.”

This same basic good news, with a cautionary caveat, for San Francisco real estate was echoed by an April 15, 2010 article in The Press Democrat, which noted that “Bay Area home sales and prices jumped in March, but analysts largely discounted the changes as the result of the annual spring selling season and an increase in purchases of higher-end homes.”