San Francisco Real Estate Market On Fire

The San Francisco residential real estate market is booming again. I do not recall seeing such a sudden change in buyer sentiment in over 10 years. The sea shift appears to have begun in early 2012 fueled in large part by a booming stock market, ultra 40 year low interest rates, a high-tech explosion and widely anticipated IPOs from Facebook, Zynga, Pandora and others. A large number of the deals getting done these days are all cash, have no contingencies and extremely fast close of escrow periods. Bidding wars are back in fashion and we have seen some properties garner over 40 offers! We feel sorry for whoever won that battle.  

Single family homes and condo sales are blazing in the popular areas of San Francisco.  

TIC units are on their way back as buyers turn to a less competitive, more affordable alternative.  

Multi-unit buildings are competitive.  

Sellers are back in the driver’s seat. Anxious buyers need to be prepared to have to elbow scrap into deals in the hot zone urban core of San Francisco while not getting to caught up in the hype.  

Real estate cycles are never ending. While we never try to time or guess markets, and firmly believe you can get a great deal in all markets, some do whisper that we may be beginning another upswing in the real estate cycle in San Francisco.

- John Montgomery