Stop me if you’ve heard this one already: San Francisco’s housing prices have reached new stratospheric levels. Yes, well, at least we have new numbers to put with the headline. In February, the median sale price of San Francisco homes increased 16.2 percent from February 2013, reaching $979,750, according to Redfin Research. “At this rate, next month it will surpass $1 million,” according to Redfin. That compares to the national growth over the year of 5.4 percent to $258,300. Though S.F.’s median price was nearly $140,000 higher than nearby San Jose’s, the South Bay city’s median price growth rate was actually slightly higher at 17.1 percent.
Nationally, Redfin reported that the numbers of newly listed homes increased more than 11 percent over the year, which should benefit buyers by providing a bigger selection. But in the Bay Area? Don’t get your hopes up. “Nine out of 10 offers written by Redfin agents in Oakland, San
Francisco and San Jose encountered competition from another buyer,” said Redfin’s report. “Bidding wars increased 8.7 percentage points in Oakland, 4 percentage points in San Jose and 1.9 percentage points in San Francisco year over year.”
