Bay Area Real Estate: A Market of Individuals

Stories about people fleeing San Francisco (and other urban centers) because of COVID-19 are prevalent. However, they may be overblown.

Headline: San Francisco Real Estate Market Rebounds Dramatically

Despite the ongoing health and economic crisis precipitated by COVID-19, the SF real estate market made a large recovery from the steep declines in March and April. The SF median house price hit a new monthly high in June ($1,800,000), and high-end houses, in particular, have seen very strong demand – this applies to virtually every market in the Bay Area. More affluent buyers - the demographic least affected by COVID-19, unemployment, and also having the greatest financial resources - have been jumping back into the market to a greater degree than other segments...

Every Bay Area county had y-o-y increases, with low-density counties in higher demand.

The Bay Area markets with the largest year-over-year increases in the number of listings accepting offers in June 2020 were the 4 outer Bay Area counties of Monterey (up 61%), Santa Cruz (58%), Sonoma (47%) and Napa (37%). They also have among the lowest population densities in the Bay Area. The more urban counties saw more modest y-o-y increases: San Francisco (6%) and Alameda (7%). Other factors may play a role in this: length/strictness of shelter-in-place rules, home price differences, second-home buying patterns, and so on.

Besides, there's still the San Francisco X-factor. Despite the homelessness, high real estate prices, traffic and transportation problems, the hearts of many people still beat a little faster when they think of San Francisco. And some of them are rich, like tech entrepreneur Leah Culver.

Leah Culver

the second floor of 714 Steiner St., one of San Francisco’s “Seven Sisters,” the fifth home from the left on Postcard Row. It’s a landmark made famous, in part, by the opening credits of television shows “Full House” and “Fuller House.”

Culver, a computer engineer, angel investor and longtime fixture of the Silicon Valley tech scene, closed on the house about two weeks ago. She ended up paying $3.55 million for the San Francisco icon — $800,000 over the asking price...

Stove in a $3.5MM home (Chron)

All told, Culver expects to spend another $3 million over two years to renovate the three-story, 2,849-square-foot home.

“It’s a huge commitment,” she says. “This might be the stupidest thing I do in my life. But I think it’ll be great. I’m optimistic.”

You can analyze statistics all you want, but when it comes to real estate buyers all it takes is one.