Dear Clients, Colleagues, and Friends,

Spring has certainly sprung in San Francisco! While the markets and economic news are keeping everyone on their toes, the spring market has turned out to be fairly strong across the city, particularly for single-family homes. 

As the intro slide says, “The homes seeing highest demand, and most likely to sell quickly with multiple offers, are houses in absolute move-in condition, often professionally staged, aggressively priced, and in prime locations.” We are finding this to be entirely true. Under-pricing as a strategy is back in fashion, although not in quite such dramatic swings as pre-pandemic overbidding – see the slides on pages 34 and 35 for specific data on overbidding by neighborhood. Buyers are now more discerning when it comes to the quality of renovation, deferred maintenance, updated electrical, seismic upgrades, roof condition, and more – both because of new insurance requirements but also as a result of general economic uncertainty. Prime locations, of course, continue to sell well, and the houses on the north side that meet the above criteria have begun to trend into up into the $2000/sq. ft. price level for renovated homes in Presidio and Pacific Heights. 

We did see a lot of uncertainty the week of the tariffs and stock dip, with some buyers pulling out of deals or deciding not to offer at the last minute, but since the market and tariff announcements have stabilized, many buyers are back on the hunt, although there are still those waiting on the sidelines for fear of a future recession or further stock crashes.

The number of listings going into contract last month was up slightly year-over-year but the number of closed sales fell, and the 3-month rolling SF median single-family homes sales price was unchanged from last year. The median condo price declined slightly, as the price points tend to be lower and thus the buyers are more directly affected by recession/employment uncertainty and purchasing power with regards to stock market fluctuations. Condo numbers also include downtown condos, which are particularly volatile – a lot of downtown condo purchases are for second homes and/or are discretionary purchases, and when the stock market falls, fewer people are interested in a crash pad in SF! Luxury condominiums (above $2.5M) interestingly saw an uptick last month, to their highest levels since May 2022. 

Condominiums in the Marina are now (looking at sales for the past 12 months) at the highest median price per square foot in the City, at $1260/sq. ft., eclipsing Presidio Heights and Cow Hollow. The highest median sales price is still in Presidio Heights and Cow Hollow, as those units tend to be larger on a square foot basis than in the Marina. Across the north side neighborhoods days on market for condominiums are still averaging 40+ days, though we are happy to report that is not the case for most of our listings! As well, south side condo listings are still selling at a fairly quick pace. 

One data set we found particularly interesting was the slide on median single-family home price appreciation. Inflation over the past 25 years is approximately 89%, but if you bought 25 years ago (in 1999), your house has appreciated, on average, 290%!  Food for thought for those empty-nesters that are considering selling and moving to a smaller condominium…that’s a hefty profit margin! Condominiums, in contrast, appreciated approx. 182% on average – not bad either!

We have lots of new listings that just came on the pipeline as May continues to be a seasonally very busy time of year for San Francisco real estate. We are taking offers this week on two condominiums, 3140 Clay #1, an adorable 2-bedroom right across from Presidio Library, and 4228 24th Street, a top-floor 2-bedroom condominium right in Noe Valley’s shopping/dining epicenter. Next week we will be launching 2438 Clay, an elegant 5-bedroom Pacific Heights condominium, 1685 Page later in May, a charming 2-bedroom flat, and in June a beautiful, newly developed home at 2762 Filbert Street in Cow Hollow.

Inventory is up and buyers are out looking! We anticipate this to continue through mid-June, when school vacations set in and so does the fog. Wishing you lots of lovely long, sunny spring days as we inch towards San Francisco summer – and as always, please reach out if you have any questions about the above or just to say hello. We love to hear from you! 

Here is the link to the Flipbook.

All the best,

Team Hatvany

Nina, Natalie, Vanessa & Paul