SF up again per Dataquest

DQNews.com came out with their November report and San Francisco (the entire city) is up 7.2% over November '06. Solano County got crushed, down 14.8% with sales off by 50%. That's just crazy. 15.7% fewer homes sold in San Francisco, but a 50% drop for Solano is off the charts. My personal belief (and I know I can back this up with numbers if I felt like spending a couple of hours crunching numbers) is that San Francisco is up because the "luxury" market (in quotes because $1+ million isn't necessarily luxury in this town.... even $2 million isn't always luxury here) is strong, and higher priced homes going up will lift the overall figures.

Of course another look at the San Francisco number reveals that at $814,750 as the median price for November, it's BELOW the top of the market which came in May ($835,000) and June ($825,000) (see my full 2007 chart here). But, all that means is a seasonal drop off. November everyone is focusing on Thanksgiving and other travel and holiday plans. It's also the start of San Francisco's rainy season. Whereas May sales are reflective of April activity (30 days to Close is typical in SF, so something that got an Offer on April 15th would not Close and record it's Sold price until May 15th), and April is when the SF market almost always takes off with Buyers coming out of the wood works.

Plus Seller's know this, so the best and priciest homes also come on the market. If a Seller comes to me and asks to Sell their home in November, I'll ask if they can wait it out until April. Often, the price differential can be worth it to them if there isn't another monetary reason to sell then.

Bottom line... San Francisco is still going up. National news... well... it's news, and only bad news sells, so don't expect to hear about the strong markets like San Francisco.