Cash Is King In S.F.
The S.F. Association of Realtors says the median price for a condo or TIC unit in S.F. hit $950k last month (up 24.6% year-over-year), so we asked Zephyr agent Matt Fuller about client concerns. Rising interest rates won't keep product from flying off the market, he warns them. That's because his research shows about a third of sales in 2013 were all cash (that's so much green it should be LEED certified). So if rates soared, there's plenty of local and overseas buyers stocked with cash, causing the home-buying process to remain incredibly competitive. He thinks the year will end with single-digit growth in values.
Just yesterday, a buyer asked Matt if the inventory of new condos and apartments coming available this year would trigger a drop in prices. (NEMA's lavish grand opening, above, last November celebrated a whopping 754 new units arriving next to Twitter's HQ.) His answer? It's such a small drop in the bucket—as S.F. has been under-built for so many years—they will be quickly absorbed. Happy house hunting!
