Homeowners in San Francisco might well be rubbing their hands with glee with the news that property prices in the city have skyrocketed upwards once again.
In the first three months of this year the median price for a San Francisco-based single-family home has increased by an astonishing $100,000. What that means is it’ll cost you a cool $1.6 million to buy a home in the city, a new all-time high, says Paragon Real Estate Group.
To better illustrate just how far San Francisco is ahead of other U.S. cities, consider that the median home price nationwide is just $279,000, according to Realtor.com statistics.
The three-month rise represents an increase of 24 percent compared to the same period one year ago.
“We didn’t see this coming,” said an astonished Patrick Carlisle, Paragon’s chief marketing analyst. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen this kind of jump.”
Experts say that San Francisco’s appreciating home values are due to a dearth of supply, with an extremely limited amount of homes currently on sale. Adding to this is the fact that San Francisco is located on a peninsula, which means fewer spaces for developers to build more homes. Also, existing homeowners are showing a reluctance to sell.
“There’s just a trickle of new listings coming on the market, and they’re snapped up almost immediately,” Carlisle said. “We’ve had situations where there are 10 to 20 offers on a new listing, sometimes even more. Multiple offers are the norm, and sometimes there are frenzied bidding wars.”
Out of interest, that $1.6 million for a median-sized home in the city won’t get you all that much. San Francisco real estate experts say that at this price, you’ll be able to afford a moderately sized home with just two to three bedrooms and two bathrooms.