Oct 19 2009
“The San Francisco housing market continued to show substantial improvement in September,” according to the latest Market Focus report, published jointly by the Rosen Consulting Group of Berkeley and the San Francisco Association of Realtors.
“Driven by price adjustments and attractive incentives, condominium sales activity gained further traction during the month, with improvements to both closed and pending sales indicating tightening market conditions,” the report indicated.
A late summer pick-up in sales resulted in a drop in the inventory level of homes for sale in the city to 980 units, from 1,100 units in August. At the end of September, the total months’ supply of homes for sale stood at 3.6 months, compared to 10.4 months in November 2008.
As the market has tightened, the decline in condominium sales prices has moderated from earlier in the year. At the end of September, the median sales price had declined by only 7.1 percent, compared to September 2008.
Multiple bids on the city’s most desirable properties and the rise in the sale of homes in higher priced areas has contributed to an improvement in the single-family home median sales price which increased 6.0 percent to $747,500 in September 2009 from August 2009, but still represents a decline of 4.4 percent from September 2008.
Pending sales activity remains robust with 218 single-family homes under contract, an increase from 193 units in September 2008. Higher pending sales activity points to favorable closed sales activity in the months ahead, although greater scrutiny in obtaining a mortgage is expected to extend the time between signed contracts and closings.
A number of positive economic trends have helped to drive improvements in the market. Although consumers remain apprehensive, they have become less pessimistic in their views toward the economy and the housing market. “The rise in consumer sentiment,” says Ilse Cordoni, president of the San Francisco Association of Realtors, “is evident in the growing signs of stabilization in San Francisco’s housing market.”
“With mortgage rates at sub-5 percent levels and the foreclosure process effectively weighing down on home prices and improving affordability levels,” the report observes that “the current environment is an ideal time to buy, particularly for long-term buyers on solid financial footing.”
Despite these positive trends, a number of issues still loom. In August, the San Francisco unemployment rate reached 10.1 percent, the highest level in decades. The expected slow pace of job recovery is likely to hamper home buying activity while pushing delinquent borrowers into foreclosure, at least for the time being.
Source: http://www.sfrealtors.com/