How many San Franciscans:

Trace their ancestry from China, Ireland, Mexico or the Philippines? Are children under 5? Speak Spanish at home? Have their cars stolen? Are heterosexual or gay? Divorced? Live alone? Give birth each year? Vote Libertarian? Earn over $200,000/year? Have graduate degrees?

There is no city in the world like San Francisco – and here are some of the details.
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The San Francisco Luxury Home Market A Market Trends Overview by the Paragon Real Estate Group The luxury home segment in San Francisco makes up about 10% of the overall home market in the city (by unit sales; more by dollar volume). One of the most interesting dynamics playing out right now in the SF luxury home market is the large increase of high-tech industry buyers with huge sums of new money at their disposal. Their presence is strongly impacting the market, especially in c... [More]

San Francisco Real Estate Trends for the South of Market (SoMa), South Beach, Mission Bay & Yerba Buena Condo Market A Market Overview by the Paragon Real Estate Group More condos sell in the South of Market (SoMa)-South Beach-Yerba Buena-Mission Bay neighborhoods than anyplace else in the city. Of course, this is where by far the greatest number of new condos have been built since the 1990's. The market here has been heating up rapidly, especially as the number of brand new ... [More]

San Francisco Residential Market Trends in Realtor District 5: Noe/ Castro/ Haight A statistical market overview by the Paragon Real Estate Group for Noe Valley, Eureka Valley & the Castro, Cole Valley, Mission Dolores, Haight Ashbury, Ashbury Heights, Clarendon Heights, Parnassus Heights, Corona Heights, Glen Park, Twin Peaks & the Duboce Triangle Below are a variety of charts detailing market conditions and trends in the neighborhoods of San Francisco's central Realtor D... [More]

What Costs How Much Where in San Francisco San Francisco Home Values by Neighborhood February 1, 2011 - January 31, 2012 The first group of statistics below (in table format) apply only to non-distress home sales with at least 1 car parking, as reported to MLS. Distress sales – bank-owned property sales and short sales – typically sell at a substantial discount due to condition-of-property issues and/or deal-aggravation issues, and if included in the analysis, would reduce t... [More]

Of all the homes bought and sold in San Francisco in 2011:

How many had Golden Gate, Bay Bridge, downtown or ocean views? How many were Victorian, Edwardian, Art Deco, Spanish Mediterranean or brand spanking new? How many had elevators or pools, wine cellars, doorpersons or in-law apartments? How many were probate sales, bank sales or short sales?
We data-mined all of 2011’s MLS sales to answer these questions and more. We hope you find the details as interesting as we did. [More]

San Francisco Property Tax Reduction Appeals Informal Reviews & Formal Appeals for the 2012/2013 Tax Year If you believe your home may be eligible for a reduction in property taxes based upon a decline in value, there are two ways you might proceed: an Informal Review by the San Francisco Assessor’s office and/or a Formal Appeal with Assessment Appeals Board. The Formal Appeal, in particular, can be a complicated and time consuming process. Generally speaking, homes purchased 2005 thro... [More]

It seems to be part of the human condition that financial and real estate markets go in cycles. What’s interesting is that when the cycle is on the upswing or a bubble is inflating, how vociferous the opinions are that the upswing will never end; and how after the crash, how many then insist, often with great virulence, that the markets will never improve again in our lifetimes. We see variations of this forecasting certitude constantly from those emotionally or financially invested in a certain viewpoint, not to mention bloggers and media with infinite white space to fill – and, of course, real estate agents often do this as well. However, most of the time, one must simply wait and see how the cycles turn in their own time and circumstances, and turning points are best perceived in retrospect

All this leads to our point: absent some new natural or economic disaster – which is certainly possible – it appears that San Francisco real estate began turning the corner on the latest down cycle in 2011. For our complete update: [More]

A short, clear, positive analysis for home-buying in 2012 from CNN, in video form:   Should You Buy a Home in 2012?   http://money.cnn.com/video/pf/2011/12/21/pf_ate_real_estate_outlook_2012.cnnmoney/   Due to our particular economic circumstances in San Francisco, I suspect we shall see a significantly higher uptick in values than what CNN projects for the country as a whole. San Francisco often leads the way out of downturns in housing/economic cycles and that looks to be ... [More]

The new Case-Shiller Index report for October was just released. Many news articles are trumpeting that prices declined in “19 out of 20 US Metro Areas,” however while the aggregate Index for the 5-County San Francisco Metro Statistical Area did indeed decline very slightly in October (by about half of one percent), the Case-Shiller High Tier Price Index for the SF Metro Area, which is the Index which best applies to the city of San Francisco itself actually ticked up a little in Oct... [More]