We are now beginning to see the arc of the impact the pandemic had on the real estate market in San Francisco. At least for now, we appear to be on the other side of it, and life in general seems to be returning to some semblance of how things were before—including the promise of the return of open houses.

Median house sales price up 6.5%. Median 2BR condo price down 10.6%. Home sales volume up 60%. Luxury house sales up 51%. Luxury condo sales up 39%

The spring market began in January & continues to accelerate. New listings up 10%. Listings Pending Sale up 95%. Luxury House Sales up 87%.

Home sales surged at the end of 2020, and high demand got 2021 off to a heated start.

The real estate market in San Francisco saw complicated dynamics in supply and demand, with a strong recovery after an initial crash in activity. 2020: a year of extremes.

New U.S. Census data was released in early December, which allows us to look at a wide variety of data from a number of different sources.

Though the pandemic upended many normal seasonal trends this year, the market did begin its typical “holiday season” slowdown in November. However, activity remained well above levels of last year.

Indicators are a great source of knowledge and insight to the future, and right now we are confronted with several touch-points that are important to note as we anticipate what might happen in 2021.

Inventory is up—but so are price reductions. And the gap between single family homes and condos continues to spread.

Inventory is up, putting downward pressure on prices, particularly in the condo market. Could this be the time to get in the game?

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.

Supply & demand statistics, median sales price trends, sales and values by city district, the luxury home market, and the ongoing effects of COVID-19.

Market activity begins to tick up after severe shelter-in-place plunge. Median home sales prices are up. Interest rates hit new low.

Typically, the standard market indicators all climb steadily from the mid-winter slowdown until peaking in late spring. Not so since Shelter in Place came into effect.

I wanted to give you a realtor’s-eye view on what’s happening here and now, anecdotally.

Typically, the spring selling season is the most active of the year, but with all that’s going on in the world with market volatility and coronavirus right now, much remains to be seen.

This month we have a whole-Bay Area market report. This is useful to put San Francisco in context with other Bay Area communities, and particularly useful if you are considering looking outside San Francisco.

For 2020, economist Ken Rosen at UC Berkeley has said he expects the Bay Area median price to remain basically flat, within a general range of up or down 2% - in other words, similar to what happened last year.