Last month, Bay Area single family home sales continued to be sluggish compared to the average number of sales from previous years. According to MLS data, in Santa Clara County, 482 homes were sold, compared to the previous 18-year average of 987. In San Mateo County, 205 homes were sold, compared to the previous 15-year average of 398. In Santa Cruz County, 84 homes sold, compared to the 15-year average 158. And in San Francisco County, 110 homes were sold, compared to the previous average of 226.
Across the board, available inventory was up. In Santa Clara County, available inventory up 72%, with 1,193 homes available for sale in February of this year, compare to 693 at the same time last year. San Mateo County also saw an increase in available inventory. In February of this year, 447 were available compared to 308 the year prior. Santa Cruz County saw more consistency, with 323 homes available for sales, compared to 321 the previous year. And in San Francisco County, the number of available homes was 645, compared to 586 last year.
Real estate prices were mixed from county to county. In Santa Clara County, the median single family home price was $1,175,000, which was off by 14.9 percent from the previous year. In San Mateo County, the median single family home price was $1,425,000, which was down 11.5% from the previous year.
In Santa Cruz and San Francisco counties, home sale prices were up over the previous year. In Santa Cruz, the median single family home price was $916,000, which was up 14.9% over the previous year. And in San Francisco, the median single family home price was $1,505,000, which is 11% higher than the average price at the same time last year.
The upcoming IPOs that are slated for 2019 are expected to drive home prices even higher, particularly in San Francisco, where many of the IPO companies are headquartered. When Uber, Lyft, Airbnb, Slack, Postmates, Pinterest, and Instacart go public, it’s expected that over 200 new buyers will be able to purchase homes with a price of $10 million or more. And thousands more will be able to purchase homes of $1 million or more, says Patrick Howell O’Neill in Gizmodo.
