Sales & Values by City, Price Segment & Lot Size; Luxury Home Sales; Market Seasonality; Market Indicators by City; Foreign Homebuyers.

A Breakdown of Sales by Price Segment

Sales, Prices & Home Sizes by Lot Size

In San Francisco, houses selling for $8 million and houses selling for $800,000 can both be found on lots under 1/8 of an acre. In Napa and Sonoma Counties, lot size is a major factor in home size and price.

Higher-Price Home Sales

Seasonality, Inventory & Buyer Demand

New listings coming on market, the total number of active listings, and the number of listings going into contract – these all ebb and flow very dramatically by season. Activity typically peaks in late spring or summer, then begins the decline that hits its annual low point in mid-winter.

Though year-over-year inventory levels have been higher than in the past two years, they are not particularly high by historical measures.

As measured by listings going into contract, it was a strong spring. (These numbers will adjust downward a bit if transactions subsequently fall out of contract before closing sale.)

Selected Market Indicators by City

Though there are many factors at play, it’s not unusual for more expensive markets to have softer dynamics as measured by the 2 standard statistics below. The more expensive the home, the smaller the pool of potential buyers. It is also true that more expensive markets are often more prone to overpricing. These are generalities: Some high-end listings grab buyers’ attention and sell quickly.

Market Dynamics by Price Segment

Around the Bay Area in recent years, the supply and demand dynamic has often been closely associated with price range. Generally speaking, buyer demand as compared to the supply of listings available to purchase has been weaker as homes get more expensive.

In the $2 million to $4 million segment, for every 10 homes that sold in Q2 2019, 8 were pulled off the market without selling.

Home Purchases by Foreign Nationals Tumble

According to a new report by the National Association of Realtors – based on a survey of its member agents – the purchase of U.S. homes by foreign nationals plunged in the 12 months through March 2019. California, and the Bay Area in particular, have been top destinations for international homebuyers.

Stock Markets Hit a New High

The last 12 months have been an extremely dramatic time for financial markets as illustrated below. The alternating confidence and fear generated by its swings have been considerable factors in real estate markets. A parallel dynamic has occurred with the large swings in interest rates.