April 2013 Update Report
The entire San Francisco real estate market has been making a dramatic recovery with significant increases in home values throughout the city, but some neighborhoods — typically the most affluent ones and those particularly popular with high-tech buyers — are seeing the most dramatic jumps in value. Two of these areas are the Noe Valley-Eureka Valley (Castro)-Dolores Heights cluster of neighborhoods and the South Beach-Yerba Buena neighborhoods. They have very different feels, commercial districts and property types, but have been similar in the focus of huge buyer demand against an inadequate supply of homes for sale. There have been other parts of the city experiencing a similar dynamic, such as the Pacific Heights-Marina district and the Cole Valley-Ashbury Heights area, but in this posting we’ll highlight the changes to the first two areas mentioned.
If you adjust your screenview to Zoom 125%, the charts will be that much more legible. On Windows systems, this can easily be accomplished by pressing the Control and the + keys simultaneously.
In the first table and chart below, note that the average size of the units sold in the first quarter declined by 12% from 2012. Probably just a meaningless fluctuation of the kind that occur all the time. However, smaller houses typically sell for a higher dollar per square foot value than larger ones, but, of course, a lower overall price. Just another example that statistics are generalities, not exact measurements.
Our real estate statistics in San Francisco are based upon that relatively unique basket of homes that happen to sell within any given period, so instead of being exact measurements applicable to specific properties, they should be considered indications of the direction and approximate scale of market trends.
Value-related statistics can fluctuate for other reasons beside changes in value, such as seasonality, financing conditions, available inventory, variations in buyer profile, the average size of the units sold, and changes in the distressed and luxury home markets. In those areas significantly affected, distressed-property sales exaggerated the decline in home values for non-distressed homes, and now, as the distressed segment rapidly declines, the increase in home values may be similarly exaggerated. Short term fluctuations in statistical measurements should be taken with a grain of salt until substantiated over the longer term. Please see our section on statistical definitions for insight into how these statistics are calculated and the caveats one should keep in mind.
These analyses were performed in good faith with data derived from sources deemed reliable, but they may contain errors and are subject to revision. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
© Paragon Real Estate Group, April 2013
