San Francisco Bay Area Median home Prices Plunge

There has been a long-standing perception that home prices in the San Francisco Bay area consistently retain their value, even while the rest of the nation (or even other major metropolitan areas throughout California) experiences major declines in property values.    

Much of this perception is driven by the fact that very little new construction occurs since buildable land is hard to come by in many areas of California, especially within the city of San Francisco and throughout Marin County.   Compounding this issue even further is that the process of obtaining residential building permits can be a very arduous and time-consuming task in both of these areas.

While limited residential real estate inventory and challenging building regulations in the San Francisco Bay Area have typically helped to preserve home values, the turbulent real estate market being felt across the nation has started to impact home prices in the San Francisco Bay Area. 

Looking at Bay Area home sale statistics for the month of December 2008, the median home price plunged more than 43.8%, from $587,500 to just $330,000.   This figure includes the sale of single family homes, condominiums, townhomes, and lofts.    Approximately 50% of the homes sold during the month of December were foreclosures.   
While these dramatic declines are alarming for homeowners and investors, it should be noted that the Bay Area is a large place and these steep declines were heavily affected by outlying suburbs and towns, some of which have been called “ground zero” for the housing crash and foreclosure crisis.

So how did Home Prices hold up in San Francisco & Marin?

In San Francisco, the median home price declined 15.7%, to $616,500.    The median home price for a single family home in San Francisco declined to $652,500 (11.8% decline) and condominiums in San Francisco dropped 16.1% to 16.1%

In Marin County, the median home price declined 26% to $562,500, primarily due to the high number of sales of lower-priced Novato condos.    If you remove the condo/townhome sale statistics, the median price of a single family home in Marin County declined 19.2% to $675,000.   During the month of December, Marin foreclosures represented 21.5% of total sales.

With December behind us, it should be interesting to see how these statistics change with a New Year (and new administration) upon us.    To date, I’ve personally witnessed a swell in buyer activity and open house traffic however it remains to be seen if this buyer activity will translate into closed transactions as San Francisco Bay Area home buyers cautiously re-engaging the market, seeking to find the perfect home and getting the most value for their money.

Contact the Marin Modern team for experienced representation buying or selling Marin County real estate.

• Rate this Post!

  Select Your Rating:

  • 5 Stars (Excellent!)
  • 4 Stars
  • 3 Stars
  • 2 Stars
  • 1 Stars (Poor)

• Share this Post

  Share With A Friend:

  Your Name Your Email

  Friend's Name Friend's Email

  Optional Message

  Send

• Print
• Social Bookmarking

  Add to Bookmarks: