Decoding Paragon’s recent market report

Paragon has just released its most recent market report: “Taking the Temperatures of Bay Area Real Estate Markets”. It’s a look at the inner eight-county Bay Area happenings, including a probe into several questions:

· How many listings are selling without price reductions?

· How quickly do they sell?

· At what percentage of the asking price do they sell?

· What role does employment play in the real estate market?

· What are the biggest and smallest county markets?

· How do prices and rents compare?

We can consider the white-hot core of the Bay Area homes market to be both San Francisco and Silicon Valley, with the heat radiating out from there. There are many factors that define this core:

· An incredibly strong economy supercharged by the high-tech boom

· Cultural and lifestyle factors

· The creativity/innovation-cluster effect

This all leads to San Francisco’s status as a super city, which draws people from across the country and around the world. Additionally, Alameda County has also become ridiculously hot given that it’s a (somewhat) easy commute to the core and also relatively affordable by comparison. Though Marin also has a strong market, getting to Silicon Valley isn’t as easy and it’s a very wealthy and expensive county that doesn’t offer the attraction of major discounts. In addition, Marin has the highest median age in the Bay Area (45 years old) and much of the high-tech employment boom is characterized by younger people favoring a more urban environment.

The markets grow less overheated as one goes further north, east and south of the inner core. While these markets are quite hot in pockets and have been strengthening for the past three years, they are not characterized by the feeding frenzy of the core.

Check out the charts that accompany this article and keep in mind that many of them reflect February sales data.

Dreaming of San Francisco? Cece Blase offers local advice to San Francisco buyers, sellers and owners– and feeds the dreams of those who wish they could live in Tony Bennett’s ‘City by the Bay.’ Call 415-577-0809 or email cblase@paragon-re.com. www.ceceblase.com