Archive for the ‘Countdowns & Rankings’ Category
April 2, 2009
We’ve tallied up all sales taking place since the first of the year in San Francisco and ranked them by neighborhood. Totals include sales of single family homes, condos, TICs, lofts, stock cooperatives, 2-4 unit buildings, 5+ unit buildings, lots, and acreage. Here are the rankings:
Has the pace of sales quickened recently?
| Rank |
Neighborhood |
Number of Sales |
| 1. |
Noe Valley |
44 |
| 2. |
Potrero Hill |
23 |
| T-3 |
Excelsior |
20 |
| T-3 |
Bayview |
20 |
| T-5 |
South Beach |
17 |
| T-5 |
Inner Mission |
17 |
| T-5 |
Portola |
17 |
| T-5 |
Crocker Amazon |
17 |
| 9. |
Bernal Heights |
16 |
| T-10 |
Visitacion Valley |
15 |
| T-10 |
Pacific Heights |
15 |
To see the remainder of the list and commentary, continue reading –>
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Posted in Countdowns & Rankings, Macro-Level Info, Nerdy RE Analysis | Tagged neighborhood rankings, real estate statistics, sales pace, sales volume, san francisco, san francisco real estate | 2 Comments »
March 30, 2009
Looking for single family homes in District 5 that can give you some bang for your buck? Check out these six listings that each register under $500 per square foot.
- 21 Grand View Avenue tops them all, asking just $381/square foot
- 38 Lyon comes in second at $385/square foot
- 4252 22nd Street is listed at $415/square foot (needs work)
- 469 Clipper is asking $416/square foot (needs work)
- 2301 Diamond is asking $450/square foot
- and 3628 22nd Street is listed for $479/square foot
Currently, active listings go all the way up to $1,250/square foot in District 5, averaging $715. There are 99 single family homes for sale at this time in the District. Most of these bargain homes need work or are extra large… but hey, numbers are numbers.
Get in on the left side of the price per square foot bell curve with these 6 houses.
Click the hyperlinked address for pictures and listing details –>
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Posted in Countdowns & Rankings, Public Listings, Tips | Tagged deals, district 5, dollar per square foot, eureka valley, Glen Park, Haight Ashbury, Noe Valley, san francisco, san francisco real estate, single family homes | Leave a Comment »
March 8, 2009
In case you’ve been living under a rock, our country’s financial system has undergone radical change during the past five months. The pace at which change is occurring is akin to a forest fire. We’re hoping for a fast burn that clears the way for new growth. At this time, however, the fire’s still going. Maybe not quite as strong as it was at climax, but definitely still going.
What's going on in the economy isn't exactly a "controlled burn"...
Because of the rapid changes going on, we crave the freshest information. In the interest of seeing what’s going on right now, we created an analysis that you may find veeerrrry interesting. Here’s what we did:
- List out all the sales that have occurred in San Francisco’s 10 MLS districts from October 1, 2008 to March 1, 2009 (that’s five months worth of sales).
- Find the median sales price in each district over this period. Record it.
- Follow steps 1 & 2 for each district over the same time period going back to the year 2003.
- Find when prices peaked for each district.
- Calculate how far prices have fallen from peak.
- Rank the 10 districts based on performance over this period.
*Please note: You’ll need to familiarize yourself with THIS map in order to understand the MLS districts. All sales come from the MLS. These do not include private transactions or sales taking place at new developments. All numbers were adjusted for inflation to control for the changing value of the dollar. This helps us gain better insight into true market behavior. Property types included in the analysis include single family homes, condos, TIC’s, lofts, and stock cooperatives.
Now that you know the method, how about those results?
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Posted in Countdowns & Rankings, Macro-Level Info, Nerdy RE Analysis, Tips | Tagged analysis, depreciation, districts, median sales price, rankings, san francisco, san francisco real estate, Tips, trends, value decline, values | 2 Comments »
March 6, 2009
Real estate transaction volume in San Francisco is off to a lackluster start here in 2009. No surprise really, as it’s tough for people to get loans and many buyers are on the sidelines, riding exercise bikes and sipping Gatorade until coach calls ‘em into the game.
So where is the action this year? As I write this, there have been a total of 395 transactions recorded to MLS in San Francisco this year. That includes single family homes, condos, stock cooperatives, TICs, 2-4 unit buildings, 5+ unit buildings, and lots. It does not include sales taking place at new developments, private sales, or slacker agents who sold something two weeks ago but still haven’t put the sale in MLS.
We were curious to see who’s getting action so we ranked the 85 neighborhoods in the City (as determined by MLS) by the number of transactions thus far in ’09. The findings were more interesting than we thought they would be. Here is the rundown:
| Rank |
Neighborhood |
Number of Transactions |
| 1. |
Noe Valley |
30 |
| 2. |
Potrero Hill |
17 |
| 3. |
Excelsior |
13 |
| 4. |
Visitacion Valley |
12 |
| T-5. |
Russian Hill |
11 |
| T-5. |
South Beach |
11 |
| T-5. |
Inner Mission |
11 |
| T-5. |
Portola |
11 |
| T-5. |
Crocker Amazon |
11 |
| T-5. |
Bayview |
11 |
To see the rest of the list, continue reading –> Read the rest of this entry ?
Posted in Countdowns & Rankings, Macro-Level Info, Neighborhood Info, Nerdy RE Analysis | Tagged 2009, neighborhood rankings, number of home sales, sales, san francisco, san francisco real estate, transactions | 1 Comment »
February 25, 2009
Welcome to The Top 5 Most Expensive Listings in San Francisco! This is always a fun countdown, so let’s jump right into it, shall we?
Time for champagne wishes and caviar dreams!
Number 5 on the countdown…
2601 Broadway, a nearly 10,000 square foot home boasting 7 bedrooms and 6.5 bathrooms, was originally built in 1904. It has since been remodeled down to the studs and includes special features such as a “professionally tuned and air-conditioned theater”, elevator, wine cellar, smart wiring, heated hardwood floors throughout, and original stained glass windows. Located on the Gold Coast, this place is an absolute bargain!
2601 Broadway
List price? $15,500,000
—————
3444 Washington Street comes in at #4 on the countdown. Read the rest of this entry ?
Posted in Countdowns & Rankings, Financial District, Neighborhood Info, Pacific Heights, Presidio Heights | Tagged 2601 broadway, 2845 broadway, 2901 broadway, 3444 washington, billionaire, countdown, gold coast, millionaire, most expensive, rich, san francisco, san francisco real estate, st regis penthouse, top 5, wealthy | 1 Comment »
February 22, 2009
The NAHB (National Association of Home Builders) and Wells Fargo have just published their Q4 2008 rankings of least and most affordable metro areas in the United States (also known as the “Housing Opportunity Index”).
10 Least Affordable Metro Areas Over 500K in Population
1. New York-White Plains-Wayne, NY-NJ
2. San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City, CA
3. Nassau-Suffolk, NY
4. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, CA
5. Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall, FL
6. Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine, CA
7. El Paso, TX
8. Newark-Union, NJ-PA
9. Honolulu, HI
10. Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, WA
10 Most Affordable Metro Areas Over 500K in Population
1. Indianapolis-Carmel, IN
2. Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills, MI
3. Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, OH-PA
4. Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn, MI
5. Grand Rapids-Wyoming, MI
6. Syracuse, NY
7. Dayton, OH
8. Akron, OH
9. Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor, OH
10. Scranton–Wilkes-Barre, PA
No huge surprises with these lists but definitely interesting.
Google Maps Mash-up by Adam P (click to enlarge)
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Posted in Countdowns & Rankings | Tagged cities, least affordable, metro areas, most affordable, nahb, rankings, san francisco, san francisco real estate, top 10 list, wells fargo | 2 Comments »
February 3, 2009
You may be wondering what on earth we’re talking about with a question like that. What we are referring to is the total dollar amount of real estate sales during a given year.
For example, did you know that there was $5.196 billion in real estate sales last year in San Francisco (per MLS)? Add to that a few for-sale-by-owners, a couple private sales, and a decent number of developer sales that are not reflected in MLS, and you’ve got yourself a decent-sized industry. Or do you?
In order to put things in perspective, we’ve compared last year’s total (we’ll just call it around $5.5 to $6 billion) to ten other entities and the results make good food for thought (not to mention great cocktail party conversation).
Mmmm... food for thought...
1. Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company (yes, the chewing gum company that owns brands such as Lifesavers and Orbit): 2007 Total Sales = $5.4 billion. That’s some serious candy.
2. Major League Baseball: Total revenues in 2007 = $6.07 billion. Hot dog and beer revenues = $20 billion. Just kidding about that last part.
3. Ford Motor Company: LOST $5.9 billion in cash reserves during Q4 of 2008. Ouch.
4. Bill Gates net worth 2008: $58 billion. That would equal TEN and a HALF years of all of San Francisco’s real estate agents and brokers working at today’s pace to generate that amount of money. How’s that for putting into perspective how wealthy Gates is, and for that matter, how little we are? FYI – there are an estimated 2,500 to 3,000 agents that do business in San Francisco.
5. Bail-outs anyone? How about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which could tap the the US Treasury for $51 billion in the coming weeks. Again, that’s about 10 years worth of every agent and broker’s efforts (at today’s levels).
6. RIM (they manufacture Blackberry phones): Hit $6.01 billion in revenue for 2008. Who would’ve thought the phones we agents use outdo all of us? Hehe…
7. Bay Area video games company Electronic Arts predicts revenue of $6 billion by 2011.
8. Levi Strauss & Company: $4.4 billion annual revenue in 2007. Who’s wearing the pants now, Levi’s?
9. Amazon.com: $6.7 billion in Q4 of 2008. So us agents and brokers are producing less than a quarter of what Amazon does annually. Anyone else humbled by this?
10. The total value of Notre Dame’s endowment fund: $6 billion. I wish I had a little endowment fund…
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Posted in Countdowns & Rankings, Macro-Level Info, Neat Stuff & Gadgets, Nerdy RE Analysis | Tagged 2008, agents, brokers, gross sales, rankings, revenue, sales revenue, san francisco, san francisco real estate, total sales | Leave a Comment »
January 23, 2009
Forbes came out with an article a couple of days ago that ranks the world’s cities in terms of the best opportunities for real estate investors in 2009. Cities named in the top 10 show exceptional long-term stability and have proven track records. According to the article, investors are back to basics and are looking at tried and true cities… not so much the exotic locations that were popular in years past.
San Francisco Ranks #6 in the World
Here is a list of the World’s Best Places for Real Estate Buys – 10 Cities Investors Will Target in 2009:
- Washington, D.C.
- London
- New York
- Tokyo
- Shanghai
- San Francisco
- Los Angeles
- Paris
- Houston
- Singapore
According to the article, San Francisco ranked #24 last year and is now up to #6. Click HERE to read the article in full.
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Posted in Countdowns & Rankings, News | Tagged 2009, forbes, list, rankings, real estate investment, san francisco, san francisco real estate, world cities | Leave a Comment »
January 14, 2009
We’re in a vintage mood today. There is no substitute for old-fashioned charm in San Francisco homes and they just don’t make ‘em the way the used to. That’s why we’ve decided to count down the Top 5 Oldest Single Family Homes currently on the open market.
Number 5 on the countdown: 117 Broad Street, Year Built: 1896
This very unique home is nestled in Oceanview and was used as San Francisco Fire Department’s Engine Co. #33 station for three quarters of a century. The Victorian-styled building then became a one-of-a-kind single family home and has been used as such for around 30 years. The property is currently listed at $1,333,333, has 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, and high ceilings. As of this morning (1/14/09), the home has been on the market for 111 days.
117 Broad Street used to serve San Francisco as a fire station
Number 4 on the countdown: 2434 Leavenworth Street, Year Built: 1890
This 4 bedroom, 3.5 bath home located in Russian Hill boasts ~3,558 square feet and is surrounded by lush greenery. The home truly subscribes to the “they don’t make ‘em like they used to” adage as it contains 2 grand staircases, 6 fireplaces, and 13-foot ceilings. This Victorian is priced at $2,800,000 and has been on the market for 124 days.
2434 Leavenworth Street is surrounded by lush greenery
The countdown continues –> Read the rest of this entry ?
Posted in Alamo Square, Corona Heights, Countdowns & Rankings, Neighborhood Info, Oceanview, Pacific Heights, Russian Hill | Tagged 177 broad, 2434 leavenworth, 2510 jackson, 80 ord, 908 steiner, classic, countdown, oldest homes, ranking, san francisco, san francisco real estate, single family homes, victorian, vintage | Leave a Comment »
January 8, 2009
If I told you that properties in the Tenderloin tend to sell quicker than properties just a few blocks away in Nob Hill, would you believe me?
The 'Loin over Nob Hill? No way Jose!
That’s why we’ve put together a list of San Francisco’s 85 neighborhoods, ranking them by how quickly homes sold during 2008. Which neighborhoods unload homes the quickest? And which ones have properties that tend to sit on the shelf for a while? You’re about to find out.
But first, a few comments about the Days on Market metric in the MLS. In case you didn’t know, Days on Market is computed by starting the clock the moment a property hits the open market. The clock stops once that property goes into “pending” status, which means it has effectively been taken off the open market unless something goes awry with the deal.
We wrote an article HERE about how MLS computes days on market. There are pluses and minuses regarding their method. Sometimes the days on market looks artificially low, and other times it looks high. Overall, however, we’re counting on these shortcomings to balance out as we look at the entire year of 2008 from high above. So without further adieu, here are the rankings:
| Rank |
Neighborhood |
Average DOM for 2008 |
| 1. |
Ingleside Terrace |
29 |
| 2. |
Jordan Park/Laurel Heights |
30 |
| 3. |
Presidio Heights |
33 |
| T-4 |
Westwood Highlands |
35 |
| T-4 |
Midtown Terrace |
35 |
| 6. |
Balboa Terrace |
37 |
| T-7 |
Westwood Park |
38 |
| T-7 |
Outer Parkside |
38 |
| T-9 |
Cow Hollow |
39 |
| T-9 |
Parnassus/Ashbury Heights |
39 |
| T-9 |
Inner Parkside |
39 |
To see the rest of the rankings, continue reading –> Read the rest of this entry ?
Posted in Countdowns & Rankings, Home Selling, Macro-Level Info, Nerdy RE Analysis, Tips | Tagged average days on market, average marketing time, averages, days on market, marketing time, neighborhood rankings, san francisco, san francisco real estate | Leave a Comment »
January 8, 2009
Welcome to the Top 10 Condominium Countdown! We ranked condo sales from 2008 based upon dollar per square foot. The numbers are hefty hefty hefty, unless you’re from a city like Hong Kong, in which case they’re wimpy wimpy wimpy.
Imagine a stack of bills like this on EACH SQUARE FOOT of your home.
Here’s a look at the top 10: Read the rest of this entry ?
Posted in Countdowns & Rankings, Financial District, Neighborhood Info, Nob Hill, Russian Hill, SoMa | Tagged condominiums, condos, cost, dollar per square foot, price, price per square foot, rankings, san francisco, san francisco real estate | 2 Comments »
December 21, 2008
Ever been curious as to how high HOA (homeowner’s association) fees can get? We ran a search to see what condo in the City, that is currently for sale, has the highest monthly HOA fees. Any guesses? $3K per month? $4K per month?? Try almost $5K per month for Penthouse B that is currently for sale at 1170 Sacramento in Nob Hill! (the exact figure is $4,716 per month)
Keep in mind, this is just for all condos that are currently on the market. We shudder to think about possible figures for condos that are not for sale. But hey, riches are relative, right? $5K a month in HOA’s is chump change to a lot of people, and if you’re from NYC, London, or Hong Kong, you’re probably smirking at how cheap it is here.
Here are some shots of the current “winner” of our HOA Fee contest:
1170 Sacramento
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Posted in Countdowns & Rankings, Neighborhood Info, Nob Hill | Tagged 1170 sacramento, condominiums, condos, fees, hoa dues, homeowners association, nob hill, penthouse, san francisco, san francisco real estate | Leave a Comment »
December 15, 2008
Next up for our 2008 neighborhood rankings, we ranked each of the 85 neighborhoods in San Francisco by the value of their highest sale thus far (includes January 1, 2008 through December 13, 2008). This effectively shows us where the “ceiling” is in these neighborhoods, so we’ll call this our “Neighborhood Ceiling Ranking” from now on.
Where is your ceiling?
The ceiling was determined by the highest sale for single family homes, condominiums, stock cooperatives, lofts, and TIC property types in each neighborhood. Here’s the run-down:
| Rank |
Neighborhood |
Highest Sale |
| 1. |
Pacific Heights |
$18,000,000 |
| 2. |
Sea Cliff |
$14,500,000 |
| 3. |
Russian Hill |
$9,500,000 |
| 4. |
South of Market (SoMa) |
$8,975,000 |
| 5. |
Presidio Heights |
$8,250,000 |
| 6. |
Cow Hollow |
$7,500,000 |
| 7. |
Nob Hill |
$6,400,000 |
| 8. |
Noe Valley |
$5,818,000 |
| 9. |
Clarendon Heights |
$5,625,000 |
| 10. |
St. Francis Wood |
$5,400,000 |
To see the rest of the list, continue reading –> Read the rest of this entry ?
Posted in Countdowns & Rankings, Macro-Level Info, Nerdy RE Analysis | Tagged 2008, highest sale, neighborhood rankings, san francisco, san francisco real estate, trends | Leave a Comment »
December 15, 2008
We went through all 85 neighborhoods in San Francisco (as determined by the MLS), calculating the median sales prices for 2008 (January 1 through December 13). Included in the medians are single family homes, condominiums, stock cooperatives, lofts, and TIC property types.
Where is your neighborhood on the totem pole?
The rankings were, shall we say, quite interesting, and we’ve decided to take a look at this list periodically to see how it’s changing. We also have another ranking of all 86 neighborhoods coming out, so stay tuned.
| Rank |
Neighborhood |
Median SP |
| 1. |
Sea Cliff |
$3,150,000 |
| 2. |
Presidio Heights |
$2,210,000 |
| 3. |
Clarendon Heights |
$1,995,000 |
| 4. |
St. Francis Wood |
$1,995,000 |
| 5. |
Sherwood Forest |
$1,690,000 |
| 6. |
Jordan Park/Laurel Heights |
$1,650,000 |
| 7. |
Balboa Terrace |
$1,500,000 |
| 8. |
Monterey Heights |
$1,487,500 |
| 9. |
Cow Hollow |
$1,450,000 |
| 10. |
Forest Hill |
$1,400,000 |
To see the remainder of the list, continue reading –> Read the rest of this entry ?
Posted in Countdowns & Rankings, Macro-Level Info, Nerdy RE Analysis | Tagged 2008, macro level information, median sales prices, neighborhoods, rankings, san francisco, san francisco real estate, totem pole | Leave a Comment »
December 14, 2008
The Avenues run through the western parts of San Francisco and include the Richmond (north of Golden Gate Park) the Sunset (south of Golden Gate Park), and the Parkside Districts (also south of Golden Gate Park). The grid begins with 2nd Avenue and runs all the way to 48th Avenue at the western edge, just steps from the Pacific Ocean. Together, the Richmond, Sunset and Parkside districts comprise a large percentage of the overall area within San Francisco’s 49 square miles (our guesstimate is about 20% of San Francisco’s land area, using Google Earth to measure).
We’ll be counting down the Top 5 active listings for single family homes in the Avenues. We kick it off with number 5 on the countdown, 1330 4th Avenue. This 6 bedroom, 3 bath home is approximately 2,800 square feet, has a garage, and was built in 1910. The home is listed at $1,500,000 and took just 17 days to go into contract. The home remains in Active-Contingent status at this time.
1330 4th Avenue
To see the remaining homes, up to the most expensive listing, continue reading –>
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Posted in Countdowns & Rankings, Parkside | Tagged avenues, golden gate park, listings, most expensive listings, Parkside, richmond, san francisco, san francisco real estate, single family homes, sunset, top 5 | Leave a Comment »
