The overall Bay Area real estate market remains robust, though in some counties median sale prices were down from where they were in Q2 of 2018, according to new data from Compass.
MLSListings economist Elliot Eisenberg predicts that, especially in Silicon Valley, we’ll see prices soften over the next year, despite the strong economy and high demand for housing that continues to outpace supply. His theory is that the prices we experienced in 2018 simply went up too high too fast, and now buyers have a little more leverage.
In Marin County, the median sale price for a single-family home was down 1.5 percent in Q2 of this year from where it was in Q2 of 2018. In Q2 of this year, the price for a single-family home in Marin was $1,389,000, compared to $1,410,000 in 2018.
Quarterly data for Marin condos was not yet available, but for the period from March-May of this year, the median condo price was $621,500, which was down 8.8 percent from $681,500 in 2018.
In San Francisco, multiple IPOs from San Francisco-based companies, a strong stock market, low interest rates, and demand for luxury homes, coupled with low inventory drove real estate prices to new highs in the second quarter of this year. The median home sale price in San Francisco hit a record $1,700,000. This is 5 percent over where it stood in Q2 of 2018 at $1,620,000.
Q2 also saw a record quarterly high for condo prices in San Francisco. In Q2 of this year, the median condo price was $1,250,000. This was 1.2 percent above what it was at the same time last year at $1,235,000.
San Mateo County also had a strong second quarter, with the median home price higher than it was in the second quarter of 2018. Q2 of this year ended with a median home price of $1,675,000, compared to $1,650,000 in Q2 2018.
However, San Mateo condo sales in Q2 of this year were down slightly from where they were in 2018. The second quarter of this year ended with a median condo sale price of $865,000, compared to $890,000 at the same time last year, representing a 2.8 percent drop.
In Santa Clara County, the Q2 median sale price for a single-family home was higher than in Q1, but it still didn’t reach the peak of Q2 2018. In Q2 of this year, the median sale price was $1,335,000, compared to $1,400,000 in Q2 of 2018.
Condo prices were also below where they were in 2018. The median sale price for a condominium in Santa Clara County in Q2 of this year was $735,000. It was down 8 percent from where it was at $800,000 in Q2 of 2018.
In Santa Cruz County, the median home sale price in Q2 of this year was slightly up from where it was in 2018. In Q2 of this year, the median sale price was $1,250,000, compared to $1,235,000 last year.
Quarterly condo sales data was not yet available for Santa Cruz county, but the first half of this year saw in an increase in the median condo price over the same time last year of 6 percent, going from $518,000 in Q1-Q2 of 2018 to $549,000 in Q1-Q2 of this year.
For Alameda County, comparative data was not yet available, but the median sale price for a single-family home in the county was up 3.4 percent from where it was at the same time last year.
