Spring has Sprung Alongside Housing Prices
March often signals the start of spring and has historically brought an influx of property listings onto the market as seasonal home buying gets underway. In San Francisco, despite more properties being listed for sale in March than in either January or February of 2013, inventory levels are still below year-over-year figures.
The lack of inventory has fueled a drastic jump in median home sale prices for both single family homes and condominiums at the city and state levels.
Single-Family Home Sales
Compared to March of last year, the inventory of single-family homes for sale in the city dropped by 34.2 percent, to a total of 487 properties currently for sale. The number of homes under contract also fell by 10.2 percent, while the number of homes sold decreased by 9.9 percent, to a total of 201 properties. The decrease in sales is a direct result of lack of inventory.
For homes that were priced below $700,000, the average number of days on market fell 55 percent to just 25 days. For higher-priced homes between $700,000 and $1.2 million, the average number of days on the market fell by 53 percent to 26 days.
District 6 in San Francisco exhibited the largest gain in median home prices of all the districts, jumping 102 percent in March 2013 compared to March 2012 figures. The jump was a result of very few home sales during the month. The median home price in the District (which includes the neighborhoods of Hayes Valley, Western Addition, NOPA and Lower Pacific Heights) rose to $2.2 million in March.
Condominium Sales
Just like single-family homes, the inventory of condominiums for sale across San Francisco’s 10 Districts fell by 27.6 percent, to 682 condominiums. The number of condominiums under contract, meanwhile, grew by 3 percent to a total of 313.
For condominiums that were priced between $500,000 and $900,000, the months supply of inventory decreased by 28.6 percent to 1 month. For luxury condominiums priced above $900,000, the months supply of inventory dropped by 41.6 percent to 1 month.
District 8 in San Francisco showed the largest jump in median sales price for condos, bounding 65 percent over March 2012 numbers. The median price for the area (which includes Telegraph Hill, Nob Hill and Russian Hill) was $1.07 million.
In The News…
Highest month-to-month median price jump since 1979
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