Dear Clients, Colleagues, and Friends of Team Hatvany,

The local real estate market appears to be mirroring our summer weather – foggy and slow most of the time with bright spots of summer heat. After the tariffs hit in early spring, we experienced a short period of cooling of prices and inventory as buyers and sellers, reacting to the political and economic uncertainty, pulled back from transactions and jump started the summer slowdown earlier than anticipated. However, the market recovered and remained active through June as the eco-political conditions stabilized.

As stock markets hit new highs and interest rates tick down, we may see a late summer rally as we have in recent years, before interest rates climb back up in fall. However, this is anyone’s guess as the political and economic news is changing week by week. We do anticipate a surge in inventory and prices in early fall as is typical for our local market, but how big a surge as it compares to years past remains to be seen.

Anecdotally, we have listings across neighborhoods and price points that are sitting at the moment as well as listings flying off the shelves – and there isn’t always a rhyme or reason behind that. Proper pricing (beginning on the low end) remains a crucial and effective strategy and beautiful presentation (staging, updated renovations) continues to be key for building buyer momentum and competition. For buyers, there are many deals to be found in the summer months for places that have been sitting more than two weeks, but for well-priced, well-located, and well-presented condominiums and single-family homes, competition is still fierce due to the lack of inventory. 

Single-family home prices jumped from Q1 and were up about 3.5% year over year, for the highest quarterly price since 2022, so we are seeing a trend of slow recovery inching up to the peak levels of 2022 (not quite there yet, though). Condominium median sales prices, which post-pandemic have been sorely lagging behind single family homes, saw a big jump of 10% year over year! While still below 2022 levels, this jump puts condo prices back to 2019/2020 levels. 2023-2024 saw median condo sales prices back all the way down to 2016/2017 levels, so this is an encouraging trend for condo owners, especially those condo owners thinking about selling who bought sometime between 2018-2020 who want to recoup their investment. Days on market, year over year, for condominiums, dropped from 26 to 22 days, so the condo market is moving more quickly.

While inventory to our buyers may feel shockingly low, it was up 7.5% year over year in June. Last summer (2024) saw particularly low inventory compared to other years, so it is good to see inventory numbers climbing at least a little bit. The number of listings going into contract in June was also up 6% year over year, so this June has been more of an active market than last year. Luxury home sales, however, were pretty much flat from Q2 2024.

We are also seeing more houses and condos sell for over listing price, which speaks more to buyer competition and confidence, and underpricing strategy, than actual dramatic changes in value. The trend, as we’ve discussed in previous newsletters, has been to underprice listings more than in recent years. 

Employment numbers remain down from pre-pandemic levels but are inching up slowly, and rents across the city are continuing to rise – a welcome news for landlords and investors! 

We are remaining busy and in town despite the summer slowdown;  we will be bringing a stunning, newly developed home at 2762 Filbert to the private market in August, asking $12M with gorgeous Bay views. We will also be bringing two lovely single-family homes to the market next month: 1013 Rhode Island in Potrero Hill and 223 Divisadero in the Haight Ashbury. We have several great properties still available, from Telegraph Hill to Clarendon Heights.

Please find the full Flipbook here with all the relevant slides and data. 

We love to hear from you, so please get in touch for all your real estate needs. 

All the best,

Team Hatvany

Nina, Natalie, Vanessa & Paul