Real Estate Roundup: Bay Area Homes Are Selling Faster Than Anywhere Else

Here’s a look at recent news of interest to homebuyers, home sellers, and the home-curious.

SAN FRANCISCO, SAN JOSE ARE THE NATION’S QUICKEST-PACED HOUSING MARKETS
The Bay Area’s well-documented inventory crunch is ensuring that serious homebuyers waste little time making deals this fall, with the San Francisco and San Jose metro area housing markets moving at the fastest pace in the nation.

That’s according to inventory data from the National Association of Realtors, which says that U.S. homes sold in an average of 79 days in October. At the end of the month, there were 2.02 million existing homes for sale, down 4.3 percent on an annual basis.

Bay Area homes are selling more than twice as fast as they do nationwide — 35 days in San Francisco and 37 days in San Jose. And in certain local submarkets, the pace of sales is even quicker. MLS data from Pacific Union’s October Real Estate Report shows that single-family homes in our East Bay region sold in an average of 17 days.

---

BAY AREA HOME SALES DOWN BY DOUBLE-DIGIT PERCENTAGE POINTS IN 2016
Home sales have decreased across the Bay Area so far this year, particularly at the lowest end of the market, and more cooling appears to be in store for next year.

Citing data from PropertyRadar, The Mercury News reports that home sales across the region dropped by 10.3 percent from January to September of this year. San Francisco saw the largest declines, at 13 percent, while sales sunk by 11.3 percent in Alameda County and 10.1 percent in Santa Clara County.

Along with constrained inventory, fewer distressed properties on the market are contributing to cooling sales. Distressed sales in the Bay Area dropped by 35.7 percent in the first nine months of the year. The shortage of distressed properties, which typically fall below the $500,000 price point, is further eroding affordability across the region, which could translate to another year of sluggish sales in 2017.

---

ONE-THIRD OF HOME SHOPPERS SEEK FORMAL OFFICE SPACES
Here’s another factor to consider when staging a property: A home-office space will appeal to a significant portion of potential buyers and likely increase its price.

A recent report from John Burns Real Estate Consulting documents the rise of telecommuting and how it affects demand for home offices. The company says that 39 percent of new home shoppers work from their houses at least one day per week and that almost one-quarter of Gen Xers work out of their homes at least three days per week.

JBREC’s survey found that one-third of buyers want a formal home office, with younger buyers more likely to prefer this amenity. As many homebuyers born in the 1970s and 1980s have young families, a space with a door helps them better concentrate and participate in conference calls. The majority of respondents to the poll indicated they would pay a premium for a home with a dedicated work space.

---

FEWER AMERICANS MOVING THAN EVER BEFORE
The number of Americans who moved their residence has dropped to an all-time low this year, although quite a few Californians packed their bags for the Lone Star State.

RIS Media reports that just 11.2 percent of the population moved domestically this year, even with a solid housing market and economy. Consistent with other reports, the Golden State’s expensive real estate market and high cost of living are pushing some residents to cheaper places; this year, more than 65,000 Californians moved to Texas.

Other residents appear to be fleeing high-cost urban counties for the suburbs, particularly in Southern California. In 2016, almost 40,000 people have left Los Angeles County and migrated to neighboring Orange and San Bernardino counties.

(Photo: Flickr/Bunches and Bits {Karina})

Article and images sourced from http://blog.pacificunion.com/real-estate-roundup-bay-area-homes-are-selling-faster-than-anywhere-else/

Real Estate Roundup: The Impact of Presidential Elections on California’s Housing Market

Here’s a look at recent news of interest to homebuyers, home sellers, and the home-curious.

ELECTION YEARS HAVE MINIMAL IMPACT ON GOLDEN STATE HOUSING
Although the upcoming U.S. presidential election has caused some economic uncertainty in recent months, it shouldn’t have a huge effect on California’s surging housing market if past years are any indication.

In a recent analysis, the California Association of Realtors examined home sales volume and price growth in election years compared with nonelection years since 1990. In election years, home sales are either slightly higher or lower each month than they are in other years. If anything, presidential races boost California home sales, with transactions 7.1 percent higher in election years than in nonelection years.

The same basic trend holds up when it comes to statewide home price appreciation. During the past five presidential election years, price growth has slightly exceeded the long-term average of 5.6 percent.

---

MANY OF THE MOST DESIRABLE U.S. COMPANIES LOCATED IN BAY AREA
Most of the highest-paying companies in America call the Bay Area home, so it’s not too surprising to find that many local businesses are among the best at attracting and retaining workers.

Although Apple didn’t make Glassdoor’s 2016 list of the 25 highest-paying companies in the country, it topped LinkedIn’s rankings of Top Attractors — companies where many, many people aspire to work. Apple recently began issuing stock to the majority of its employees, including the 30 percent who work in its retail stores. Consequently, Apple Stores have an enviable 81 percent retention rate. And of course, there’s simply the cool factor of working at a company known for its consistently innovative products.

Twelve Bay Area companies made the 40 Top Attractors list, with Salesforce.com, Facebook, Google, and Uber cracking the top 10. Despite being a big-name Bay Area tech company in its own right, LinkedIn played it objective and didn’t include itself in the rankings.

---

FINALLY: BAY AREA WAGE GROWTH OUTPACING HOME PRICE GROWTH 
Over the past months, there have been many headlines — including a few on this very blog — beamoaning the Bay Area’s lack of housing affordability. But now there’s a spot of good news, as wages in about half of our local counties are growing faster than home prices.

According to RealtyTrac’s Q2 2016 Home Affordability Index, 18 percent of U.S. housing markets are currently less affordable than their historic normal levels, including most Bay Area counties, of course. The exceptions were Napa, Sonoma, and Solano counties, which are still as or more affordable than in the long term.Marin and San Francisco, on the other hand, were among the nation’s five least-affordable counties.

Annual wage growth outpaced year-over-year home price gains in the second quarter in San Francisco, Santa Clara, Napa, and Sonoma counties. Slowing price appreciation is particularly evident in San Francisco; in the second quarter of 2015, home prices there increased by 21 percent year over year compared with 2 percent in the second quarter of 2016. Wage growth in the city inched up from 5 percent last year to 6 percent this year.

“Affordability constraints are beginning to rein in home price appreciation even while wage growth is gaining speed in an increasing number of markets,” RealtyTrac Senior Vice President Daren Blomquist said in a statement accompanying the report.

---

COST OF LIVING, TRAFFIC AMONG FACTORS DRIVING CALIFORNIANS OUT
Gorgeous weather and plentiful employment may make California a highly desirable place to live, but an increasing number of state residents are finding the downsides of the Golden State are too much to handle, causing them to jump ship.

Citing data from the state Finance Department, the San Jose Mercury News reports that for the year ending June 30, 61,100 more people will move from California to another state than will migrate here. That’s the most since 2011, when 63,300 more people left the Golden State than arrived from elsewhere in the U.S.

The article points to several factors driving this trend, including the high cost of living, gridlock on the freeways, and big tax bills. Here in the Bay Area, a recent surveyfound that roughly one-third of residents want to leave the nine-county region soon, with cost of living, housing, and traffic the top three concerns.

(Photo: Flickr/joelip)

Article and image sourced from http://blog.pacificunion.com/real-estate-roundup-the-impact-of-presidential-elections-on-californias-housing-market/

Real Estate Roundup: Bay Area Sellers Net Largest Profits in the Country

Here’s a look at recent news of interest to homebuyers, home sellers, and the home-curious.

HOME SELLERS IN 4 BAY AREA COUNTIES ENJOYING HUGE PROFIT MARGINS
Bay Area homeowners who have been wavering about putting their properties on the market may want to take a serious look at the numbers from one recent industry report.

According to RealtyTrac’s most recent U.S. Home Sales Report, October sellers in Alameda County realized a 75 percent profit gain since the time they purchased their home, the most in the U.S. Santa Clara County sellers enjoyed the nation’s second-largest profit margin, at 61 percent, followed by San Mateo County at 58 percent. The company notes that Contra Costa County home sellers also did quite well, pulling in profits of 48 percent.

Across the country, the average home seller took in a profit of 16 percent since the time of purchase, the most since December 2007, just before the country plunged into the Great Recession. RealtyTrac says that more than one-third of major U.S. real estate markets have reached historic price highs at some point in 2015.

---

LOCAL TECHIES PULLING IN BIG-TIME BANK
The average Bay Area tech worker earned three to five times the national wage last year, boosting purchasing power in one of the nation’s most expensive real estate markets.

SFGate reports that the average tech worker in San Mateo County took home $240,633 in 2014, the highest in the nation. Techies earned $211,874 in Santa Clara County, $176,275 in San Francisco County, and $121,747 in Alameda and Contra Costa counties. Nationwide, the average wage was $51,364 in 2014,

But as the article points out, those numbers can appear artificially high given that they include money from sources such as severance pay and stock options. For instance, San Mateo County’s average wage was actually down 23 percent from 2013 when it was skewed by a $3.3 billion stock-option gain by Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg.

---

BAY AREA RENTS CREEP HIGHER IN NOVEMBER
Rent prices that won’t stop rising continue to squeeze tenants in San Francisco and Oakland, although those in San Jose got a bit of momentary relief last month.

In its November National Rent Report, Zumper puts the median monthly rent for a one-bedroom unit in San Francisco at $3,670, up 1.4 percent from October and the highest in the U.S. for many months running. Across the Bay in Oakland, one-bedroom rental costs rose 3.8 percent month over month to $2,160, the fifth highest in the country. On a yearly basis, rents were up by 13.7 percent in Oakland and 8.9 percent in San Francisco.

In San Jose, the nation’s fourth most expensive rental market, prices dropped 4.0 percent from October to $2,180 but were up by 14.7 percent on an annual basis.

---

PANTONE TO HOME DESIGNERS: JUST RELAX
Home design and décor trends will get a serious dose of mellow over the next few years if color authority Pantone has anything to say it about.

As it has done every year since 2000, the company announced its annual color of the year, but this time, it chose a pair: Serenity (a baby blue) and Rose Quartz (a light pink). In a press release, Pantone said that the shades are intended to “embody a mindset of tranquility and inner peace” and act as “an antidote to the stress of modern day lives … that psychologically fulfill the yearning for reassurance and security.”

Pantone offers multiple suggestions for how to use this chilled-out duo in interior design: rugs, upholstery, tableware, and decorative home accessories.

(Photo: Flickr/401(K) 2012)

Article and images sourced from http://blog.pacificunion.com/real-estate-roundup-bay-area-sellers-netting-largest-profits-in-the-country/