San Francisco housing: Time for a correction?
San Francisco is arguably one of the hottest real estate markets in the nation. Fueled by the technology economy, it has a limited supply of homes for sale, which has resulted in fierce competition and sky-high home prices. Rents also have grown in tandem.
"Have things cooled down a little bit? Yes. However, the properties that are still priced right and properly prepared, it's a 10-to-12 day market," said Jeff Salgado, a partner with McGuire Real Estate.
San Francisco home prices were up just more than 10 percent in July, according to the latest S&P/Case Shiller home price indices. It was the only one of the top 20 U.S. markets, however, to see a monthly price decline, down 0.4 percent from June on a seasonally adjusted basis.
"It's their comeuppance," declared Nobel laureate Robert Shiller, co-author of the indices on CNBC recently. "They were the most bubbly city. It's time for a correction."
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Sales in the Bay Area fell in August, down 10.6 percent from July and down 12.0 percent from last year, according to CoreLogic DataQuick data. Prices may cool a bit, but not by much, simply due to the fact that San Francisco is a city of perpetually limited inventory.
Its economy is also incredibly strong, compared with the rest of the nation, so while the sky may not be the limit for prices, they will likely continue to be sky-high.
"I don't see a bubble. Our industry is driven by the high tech and biotech. I do not see that economy, the local economy, going down," added Salgado.
