SF Luxury Home Prices Take Hit
Luxury real estate was supposed to be somewhat protected from the financial crisis, but as anyone who has watched the local market implode over the last six months knows, that hasn't been the case.
Prices have come down dramatically -- the price on the St. Regis penthouse, for example, was reduced a whopping $21 million. Luxury properties in San Francisco are sitting on the market longer, and few are selling.
A quarterly report -- the First Republic Prestige Home Index -- basically confirms what everybody knows. San Francisco Bay Area values decreased 3.1 percent in the fourth quarter, according to the index, and the average luxury home value in San Francisco is now $2.93 million.
That certainly jibes with what we've seen. But one point made in the report by Marsha Calegari that had us scratching our heads was the notion that Pacific Heights and Presidio Heights houses in prime condition "have been selling for the asking price or right over it."
Really? We've mostly seen houses in Pacific Heights sell below asking price. 2701 Broderick Street, for example, sold for $2.4 million in January, but was listed for $2.495 million. And 2711 Baker Street was listed for $2.37 million and sold for $2.192 million last month. Also, 2686 Green Street, listed for $2.995 million, sold for $2.775 million at the end of December.
| February 24 2009 at 10:40 AM
Comments
I think the real estate folks are still wistfully hanging on to the credit bubble prices. No matter what people say, incomes in the upper tier of SF luxury buyers did not rise as much as home prices did in the same period - only credit went up. Now, even wealthy buyers are seeing big hits in their equity portfolios, so they want to have a lower percentage of their overall holdings in real estate; particularly when there's no sign that prices will go up in the next few years. I have been shopping for two years and homes in Pac Heights and the Marina have DEFINITELY come down about the same as the national average: about 15%. Craigslist is full of >$1.3M properties with dramatic price drops. And they STILL aren't moving.
Posted By: samemeht | February 25 2009 at 09:33 AM
It seems everyone is suffering. Four years ago, I wanted to sell my house for a profit. I would be a winner today, if I have done that then. Anyway, now I am out of job and I am spending my time surfing the net, looking for home prices that I hope will show me light at the end of the tunnel. I just found a very interesting article “Three Tips to Make Sure Your Home Equity Line of Credit isn’t Cut” by Jennifer Openshaw. It might be helpful to you.
Posted By: emilyjensen | February 25 2009 at 03:00 PM