Median Sales Price for SF Houses: for the week ending August 15th, the median sales price was almost exactly the average median over the past 6 months.
Posts Tagged ‘market charts’
Market Charts: Percent of Listings Accepting Offers
August 30th, 2010 by Katy Dinner
This is a weekly chart, so there will be more fluctuations. Nonetheless, homes Accepting Offers has been relatively stable over the last 6 months.
Market Charts: Past 3 weeks, more listings expiring or being withdrawn than closing escrow
August 28th, 2010 by Katy Dinner
Sold Listings vs. Expired/Withdrawn Listings:
5 Reasons Why You Should Buy a Home Today
August 26th, 2010 by Katy Dinner
by STEVE HARNEY
Homeownership almost seems like a dirty word in today’s society. People are blogging, tweeting and facebooking their belief that buying a home is just plain stupid. I respect their opinion on the issue though I totally disagree. Why?
This might be the best time to buy a home in American real estate history.
Some might think I’m crazy. Cynics might think that I am saying this because I still hold a real estate license (though I have not listed nor sold a home in ten years). My reason for saying it is actually quite simple. Owning a home makes more sense than not owning a home for the vast majority of families in this country. Let me give you five reasons why.
1. Real Estate is a Great Long Term Investment
Don’t take my word on this. This is what Mike Mandel, former chief economist atBusinessWeek and current Senior Fellow at Wharton’s Mack Center for Technological Innovation, had to say:
We’ve just had the biggest boom and bust in real estate in recent history. Nevertheless, real estate has still greatly outperformed the stock market over the past ten years.
Below is his chart actually showing the difference between real estate and the stock market.
2. A Home Is a Better Place to Raise a Family
Don’t take my word on this. When Fannie Mae asked current renters for the major reason to buy a house in their National Housing Survey 2010, these were the answers renters gave (they could pick multiple answers):
- 78% said it was a good place to raise children
- 75% said because they would feel safe
- 70% said because you have control of your own space
3. A Home Creates a Sense of Community
Don’t take my word on this. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York just published a paper The Homeownership Gap. The paper explained:
Because owners have a financial interest in their property, they have incentives to take measures that will maintain or increase the value of that property. Some of these measures—such as fixing a leaky roof—are closely related to the house itself. Others, such as investing resources in the betterment of the neighborhood and the community, have broader beneficial effects on the local area, creating what economists call “positive externalities.”
Market Charts: New Listings Coming on Market Slow
August 26th, 2010 by Katy Dinner
As is typical. Usually the next big rush of new listings occurs after Labor Day.
Bay Area Sales Activity by Zipcode for 2009
August 24th, 2010 by Katy Dinner
Here is another link to a table that shows the sales activity for last year, by zipcode, for the cities of the Bay Area.
Market Charts: The Last Two Years of Home Sales in SF
August 20th, 2010 by Katy Dinner
Here is a chart of the last 2 years’ home sales in SF. July 2010 is indeed well below May 2010, as well as well below July 09 and July 08. However, this is almost completely a function of the fact that deals that would have naturally and typically ratified in May 2010 were rushed into April so as to meet the Federal Tax Credit deadline. Because of that crush of April ratifications, closed sales in May and June soared way over the sales rate of past years, AND Mayratifications this year were much lower than normal. Typically May is one of the highest ratification months of the year; low May ratifications translated to lower July closings. Typically, July is one of the highest closed sales months because of the high May ratifications. With the unusual events this year, the numbers were thrown off – which created the dramatic percentage declines everyone is chattering on about.
Remember: closed sales are 30 – 60 days behind the market (the time of offers being accepted). To get a sense of current market activity, one looks atratifications, as in the second chart below.
Closed Home Sales in SF over the past 25 Months:
Below, we see the huge surge of ratifications in April which (stealing normal early May ratifications) led to the large decline in May. Thus May’s number of accepted offers is below past years. But June 2010 ratifications are above last year’s. And July’s ratifications are above July 2009 and July 2008. That is not an indication of a collapsing market. Yes, the market surged in April due to the expiring tax credit, but except for the initial effect on May ratifications (and the resulting effect on July closings), the expiring tax credit hasn’t affected June and July ratifications at all.
Accepted Offers on SF Homes over the past 25 Months:
Many SF Homes in Escrow Considered Overpriced by the Market
August 7th, 2010 by Katy Dinner
SF Home Listings, Sold vs. Expired & Withdrawn: over the past 4 weeks, for every 10 home listings that closed escrow, almost 9 listings expired or were withdrawn from the market (typically due to being considered overpriced by the market). Even with relatively strong buyer demand, pricing, preparation and marketing are critical.
