OT - Bay Area Real Estate Stories
And also in todays WSJ:
Home Prices Begin to Decline In Upscale Parts of San Francisco
interactive.wsj.com
- More significantly, however, about 20% of residential properties sold below their asking price this month, a trend virtually unheard of in the past few years. Most of those sold at 1% to 13% discounts. One property sold for 29% below its original asking price
- Loft properties in the South of Market area are among the hardest hit. Ray Kaliski, co-owner of Lofts Unlimited Inc., a residential brokerage firm that specializes in such properties, estimates that lofts are renting for about $2 to $3 a square foot, compared to $4 to $5 a square foot at its peak in the summer. Sale prices are rolling back to their levels of about two years ago -- when lofts in the area sold for $400 to $500 per square foot -- from the $500 to $600 per square foot highs of August, Mr. Kaliski says.
Also from yesterdays, SF Chronicle:
Home Sales Heading Down, But Prices Still Ascending
sfgate.com
- On a year-over-year basis, February prices posted double-digit gains in every one of the nine Bay Area counties surveyed.
- More telling: February sales were down 15.5 percent from February 2000 and marked a third consecutive year-over-year decline, following a 3.8 percent slump in January and a 13.1 percent drop in December.
- Economists say that slowing sales usually presage lower prices. That's because most homeowners are reluctant to sell a house for less than they paid or for less than their neighbor got for a comparable house. When the market slows, many homeowners -- unless they are forced to move -- will refuse to lower their price for many months and might not sell at all. As a result, sales usually slow before prices fall. That could be what's happening now. |
