SF’s housing market is weakening as some suburbs see ‘crazy heated insanity’

The coronavirus continued reshaping the Bay Area housing market last month, as demand for homes was weakest in San Francisco — especially for downtown high-rise condos — and strongest in the North Bay as buyers untethered to an office sought more space.

July existing, single-family home sales were strongest year over year in Sonoma and Marin counties, each up roughly 36%, and in Napa, up 28% from the prior year, according to a California Association of Realtors report issued Monday. They were weakest in San Francisco, up 1.4%, and Alameda, up 6.5%, the report said. Overall, Bay Area existing, single-family home sales were up 14.8% year over year and up 26.1% from June.

“The contrast between San Francisco and some of the more suburban markets is dramatic,” said Patrick Carlisle, chief market analyst for the Compass brokerage firm.

So at least from the anecdotes in the article, people are selling their condos in the city and buying SFH’s in the suburbs. Many may do this upgrade anyway for family needs in a few years but Covid accelerated their plans.

This is what we discussed and concluded. Surprise that you didn’t take advantage of the collective wisdom of this forum. What is your goal of setting up this forum? Virtual companionship?

The area of SF near Daly city i feel nice. more open and just have better vibe of people.
current situation with fires. the breeze near to Daly city.
fire smoke.

https://www.purpleair.com/map?opt=1/mAQI/a10/cC0#10.37/37.4345/-122.3047

Looks like a trend

Was there any conclusion? Some people were saying permanent WFH techies are moving out of state because of taxes/politics/cheaper housing etc. Turns out for people with families many are taking advantage of low rates and buying bigger houses nearby.

Down in south bay, sfhs are selling like hot cakes. Condos are not moving, after several price reduction. The disparity is crazy. 3M+ homes are still going pending < 1 week, while <1M condos are stuck.
E.g.:

https://www.redfin.com/CA/Mountain-View/1863-Walnut-Dr-94040/home/1529482

Big lot, big house, LA schools, yes. But 3.75M? Sheesh.

Another one:

https://www.redfin.com/CA/Sunnyvale/975-Susquehanna-Ct-94087/home/1057840

Again, big lot, nice size, cherry chase. Pending at 2.75M after 1 week.

Otoh:

https://www.redfin.com/CA/Mountain-View/49-Showers-Dr-94040/unit-W301/home/2120893

LA schools, quiet neighborhood, usually very popular complex for junior Googlers. Not moving after 2+ months. :frowning:

Unless we win back the millenials that are skipping town, in 5~7 yrs when we expect them to move up to SFHs, they’ll be long gone.

3 Likes

Don’t worry, they will come back. Young people need to be in cities full of other young people to get laid. I am counting on the power of mating call.

How are townhouses doing? That’s in between condo and SFH.

Look like you are not good at integrating pieces of seemingly unrelated and even contradictory info into a coherent picture. Think about what the poet has in mind when he/ she wrote the poem below,

坐拥云起处, 心容大江流

Not much better. It seems mostly the demographics, rather than house sizes. Folks who were at condo/THs are moving up because they’re stuck with their kids’ schools. Singles/DINKs have skipped town.

1 Like

All the things that make city life worth paying for are exactly the things that got shut down in the pandemic: the dating scene, bars, restaurants, “culture” stuff etc. But once we are past the hump (and we will!) and things open up again, young people will come back.

1 Like