The real estate headlines in the past three months have worried most homeowners. Some of the distressing headlines have included, “Home Prices Fall in One-third of the Nation”, “Lowest Home Sales in 16 Years”, “Existing-home Sales Dive 12.8% in August”, “Home Prices Continue Decline in Major Cities” and then let’s not forget the sub-prime market fall-out with such headlines as “Real Estate Rates Climb Overnight”, “Foreclosures Close to Highest Rates Since Great Depression” to name just a few.

With all this doom & gloom from the mass media, it is really important to take a look at your individual market.  HERE in the Bay area, we have NOT seen the ‘doom & gloom’ as portrayed by the media.  In fact, according to bankrate.com (www.bankrate.com),

 San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont Areas’ median home price from the second quarter 2006 to 2007 had a 7.6% INCREASE.  This was the 17^th highest increase out of 161 areas in the nation where data was gathered from.  

We need to go back to basics which include supply & demand.  In San Francisco, many areas have low inventory of housing while the demand to live in the city remains high.  In certain areas, we are still seeing multiple offers and over-the-listing price sales.  While not every Bay area is experiencing this, the overall median home price did increase from second quarter 2006 to 2007. 

As a realtor representing buyers and sellers in San Francisco, I am disappointed in the media who once again slants the news in such a negative way, not reporting or reflecting  what is really going on in our Bay area.  Now IS the time to both buy and sell. 

October 10, 2007

www.sfGOLDENproperties.com