The Winter Blues of Realty: SF Homes Selling Under Ask Price for Four Consecutive Months

Categories: Homes Planning Real Estate

Published 02/28/2020

Real Estate website Realty Hop has announced San Francisco is one of the coldest home markets in the country throughout the previous four consecutive months. The listing website estimated the contrast between a home's list price and the closing price. “In theory, stronger markets should exhibit fewer price drops and smaller percentage discounts,” according to Realty Hop.

In February, the typical San Francisco home sale totaled 5.07% less than its list price, a discrepancy of about $61,000. That places the city of San Francisco in 6th place nationwide. For example, the most sought after housing market under this standard was Gilbert, AZ, where the average decline before the transaction came in at 1.69%, a median of roughly $8,500. In January, home sales were 5.75 % below the asking value, for December 5.63%, and a similar figure in November of a year ago.

When people envision purchasing and selling homes in San Francisco, they typically imagine bidding wars and high prices, so the thought of the city leading the country in reduced sales appears to be shocking. In 2018, Sotheby's International Realty announced that almost 80% of houses in San Francisco sold over their asking prices. In any case, these ongoing reductions are not a mystery at all as indicated by Compass Real Estate's latest report on the San Francisco market, and earlier Advent Properties blog posts, it's not unexpected to see this kind of plunge during the winter months. The same cycle has occurred throughout the past 3 years with spring months bringing a resurgence of homes selling for over asking prices. Additionally, this pattern is normal in most other cities around the nation.

It is possibly huge that San Francisco's seasonal home value declines are some of the highest across the nation, however. Since San Francisco's price resurgence in spring 2019 was considerably more quiet in earlier years, and declined substantially in the summer, as indicated by those Compass figures. If 2020 declines more, it's likely the balance could plunge into negative in other months, which could become alarming. It's important to note that these statistics are prone to manipulation; for instance, some real estate agents will choose to pull a home off the market for a month or two and later show it as a supposedly new listing opposed to cutting a home's price. But also, a few sellers will price a home at less than its value to make sure it sells for a desired "over asking" price later. Numbers don't lie, yet they don't always tell the entire truth, either.

If you are seeking to purchase a new property in San Francisco, visit our Real Estate Listings page or Property Search Tool. To learn more about your San Francisco home’s value, schedule a call with Darryl Glass on the calendar below: