The Real Estate Near Me is Selling for More Than Ever!
Real Estate near me is Bay Area real esate! And home prices are up 6% as compared to the same time last year. As horrible as the Covid-19 pandemic has been, one happy aspect has been that houses in the Bay Area are selling for a lot more than ever before. To cite an easy example, back in March 2021, a house in Berkeley made the headlines when it sold for more than $1 million over its list price.
While an attractive financial offer is key, of course, in true Bay Area fashion there are also plenty of offers that come in with extra pizzazz. One of the bids on the Berkeley home included free one-week stays at an Airbnb in Tuscany for the next 10 years. It’s not the offer the sellers accepted, but it certainly piqued their interest.
Real Estate Near Me is Oakland & Alameda
When the offers are that high, the accepted bid is often cash. A five-bedroom home in the Elmwood neighborhood of Berkeley closed in April 2021 for $3.15 million, all cash, with a listing price of $1.995 million.
According to MLS data, since March there have been at least 20 properties that have sold for more than $800,000 over the listing price in the East Bay and six of those, (three in Berkeley, three in Oakland, one in Piedmont), went for $1 million or more over the asking price.
Alameda County home sales have climbed in 2021, up 21% when compared to the same time period last year, according to recent data from Compass. Overbidding was most common in Alameda County when compared with all Bay Area counties in the past year, with homes selling for an average of 12% over list price.
Talking Tech Hubs
Tech hubs like San Francisco and San Jose have drawn substantial homebuyer demand over the years but San Francisco’s infamously hot real estate market saw an outward migration due to the pandemic.
People were leaving the city, increasing demand in the suburbs. The value of suburban single-family homes is skyrocketing, while rents and pricing in tech hubs are falling. Recent market trends indicate that the market is reviving and will most likely heat up again in the coming months.
Likewise, there is a consistent demand for condos. The month-to-month sales growth was 23.4 percent. Higher levels of inventory, following a flood of new listings during the pandemic, are sitting on the market in the city proper, a significantly larger jump than the surrounding suburbs.
In San Francisco, though, the softening is clear as sellers flood the market with their listings and buyers have not changed their pace to match.
San Francisco’s market is shaping up to continue the trend of the last few years as one of the hottest markets in California. What are the San Francisco real estate market predictions for 2022? Since Nov 2011, the San Francisco County home values have appreciated by nearly 116% — Zillow Home Value Index.
Some Serious Specifics . . .
Despite the ongoing health and economic crisis precipitated by COVID-19, the SF Bay Area real estate market made a large recovery from the steep declines in March and April of 2021. San Francisco median house sales prices are as high as they’ve ever been.
The median condo sales price has also been running higher than the highs of last year. It recorded an increase of 12.2% YTY in Oct 2021. Condo sales surged by 9.7% YTY. The condo market is seeing growth in new listings, especially in San Francisco County, where we’re seeing a softening of prices.
Because of a persistent imbalance in supply and demand, the entire Bay Area region is heavily skewed toward sellers. In October 2020, the inventory of available single-family homes remained at 1.4 months, indicating that buyer demand had risen to a new high.
This will cause property prices to rise at a moderate rate in the coming months. The supply of listings in San Francisco County was at its highest point in 8 years in August 2020. Correct pricing becomes increasingly important for sellers as the market softens. When this occurs, the sellers will be forced to compete for buyers.
Real Estate Near Me is a Neighborhood You Love
To break matters down into clear neighborhood usable figures:
- Bay Area (San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward Metro) home values have gone up 17.0% over the past year and Zillow predicts they will rise 8.7% in the next twelve months.
- San Francisco County home values have gone up 8.0% over the past year but they are expected to increase in the next twelve months.
- Alameda County home values have gone up 21.9% (current = $1,131,709) over the past year and they will continue to rise in the next twelve months.
- Contra Costa County home values have gone up 22.3% (current= $901,972) over the past year and they will continue to rise at a similar pace in the next twelve months.
- Marin County home values have gone up 16.3% (current = $1,479,163) over the past year and they will continue to rise at a similar pace in the next twelve months.
- Napa County home values have gone up 19.5% (current = $874,122) over the past year and they will continue to rise at a similar pace in the next twelve months.
- San Mateo County home values have gone up only 14% (current = $1,630,026) over the past year and they are expected to rise at a faster pace in the next twelve months.
- Santa Clara County home values have gone up 16.7% (current = $1,497,288) over the past year and they will continue to rise at a similar pace in the next twelve months.
- Solano County home values have gone up 22.2% (current = $582,836) over the past year and they will continue to rise at a similar pace in the next twelve months.
- Sonoma County home values have gone up 15.1% (current = $767,049) over the past year and they are expected to rise at a similar pace in the next twelve months.
Is this good news? Yes. The good news for buyers in San Francisco and the rest of the Bay Area is that mortgage rates are still low (around 2.87 percent) when compared to last year’s average rate. As a result, now is a good time for them to enter the market and seize their favorite deals, as rising San Francisco home prices have reduced housing affordability.