This month we have a whole-Bay Area market report. This is useful to put San Francisco in context with other Bay Area communities, and particularly useful if you are considering looking outside San Francisco.

For 2020, economist Ken Rosen at UC Berkeley has said he expects the Bay Area median price to remain basically flat, within a general range of up or down 2% - in other words, similar to what happened last year.

Buying income property in San Francisco can be a good investment alternative to a single residence. Generally, multi-unit buildings come in at a lower price per square foot, and of course also can generate passive income.

As is expected, we saw a spike in new listings in September, flooding the market. Anecdotally, I think buyers were fatigued by the market as well as world events, and simply didn’t show up. Consequently, properties sat on the market, and we saw a higher than usual rate of price reductions in October.

It'll be a while before we really see how the market behaved this fall, but anecdotally, I can say that there were some significant shifts. Listings seemed to sit on the market longer, and properties went for less stratospheric prices than we've seen previously.

It will be another month before hard data on the autumn selling season begins to become available. In the meantime, below is a review of market trends and statistics through the third quarter.

In this month’s report, we look at neighborhood house & condo prices, short-term & long-term appreciation trends, and population migration in & out of San Francisco.

High stock markets, low interest rates, surging luxury home sales, limited inventory, a spring full of unicorn IPOs, and San Francisco - once again -hits new highs in median home sales prices.

High-demand/low-inventory spring market brings median home sales prices bouncing back to 2018 peaks. San Francisco luxury home sales hit new monthly high.

A lot of prospective sellers seem to be holding back in anticipation of a flood of new money sweeping through the city. This may be misguided.

It’s too early to tell how the spring selling season will shake out, but there are plenty of indications that things are heating up.

Here’s what’s happening so far in the Spring 2019 selling season, and where the best opportunities are for buyers right now.