California’s Unemployment Rate Reaches All-Time Low

In the last two months of 2017, California employers added more than 105,000 jobs, ending the year on an incredibly positive note. In fact, with more than 200,000 jobs added in the last four months of the year, it was the strongest streak of job growth in the state since the data series began almost 30 years ago. California’s unemployment rate dropped to 4.3 percent,...

Real Estate Roundup: Bay Area Starting Salaries Are the Highest in the U.S.

Here’s a look at recent news of interest to homebuyers, home sellers, and the home-curious. SAN FRANCISCO RANKS AS THE NATION’S THIRD BEST JOB MARKET IN 2018 The year 2017 brought plenty of sunny economic news to the Bay Area, and 2018 begins with a report that workers in the Bay Area take home the biggest bucks in the U.S. when they start a new...

Pacific Union CEO Mark McLaughlin Named to 2018 List of Top Residential Real Estate Leaders

Pacific Union is honored to announce that company CEO Mark A. McLaughlin has been named one of the top real estate executives in the U.S. and Canada for 2018. Noted industry publication Swanepoel places McLaughlin No. 9 on the SP200 Power Brokers list, which ranks the most powerful, influential, and innovative leaders in residential real estate. He also ranks No. 34 on the latest annual...

Today’s Smart Home Gets Smarter (and Weirder) at Annual CES Show

There was a smart refrigerator and a television that rolls up like a yoga mat. There was a $20,000 mattress with a mind of its own, and wallpaper embedded with LED panels. There was a hands-free suitcase that follows you through the airport, a talking toilet, and enough robots to organize themselves into an invading army (yikes!). In other words, it was another typical Consumer...

Which Bay Area Home Remodeling Projects Will Turn the Biggest Profits in 2018?

The average home improvement job on the West Coast is expected to recoup 63.9 percent of its cost this year. Eighteen of 21 tracked renovation projects in the San Jose metropolitan area are forecast to offer a return on investment of 100 percent or higher. In San Jose and Santa Rosa, manufactured stone veneer is the most profitable home upgrade, while a new, upscale garage...

Pacific Union Quarterly Report: Q4 2017

All Northern California regions in which Pacific Union operates posted annual median sales price growth in the fourth quarter of 2017. Our Silicon Valley region saw the highest appreciation, at 23 percent, while Contra Costa County, the East Bay, Marin County, San Francisco single-family homes, Sonoma County, and Lake Tahoe condominiums put up double-digit percent year-over-year price gains. Below, Pacific Union Chief Economist Selma Hepp...

Video: Bitcoin and the Housing Market

Check out this short video on the potential impacts of Bitcoin on the real estate market. To read the full analysis by Pacific Union Chief Economist Selma Hepp, click here.

Real Estate Roundup: Bay Area Cities Are Among Top U.S. Spots for Coffee Drinkers

Here’s a look at recent news of interest to homebuyers, home sellers, and the home-curious. OAKLAND NAMED NO. 3 BEST AMERICAN CITY FOR COFFEE LOVERS When it comes to getting a daily coffee fix, the West Coast is king, with three Bay Area cities counting among the top 10 American cities for java junkies. That’s according to a study by SmartAsset, which ranked the best...

Would You Sell Your Home for Bitcoins?

Executive Summary: Recent financial-market hype around cryptocurrencies is partly driven by the value of promising innovations stemming from blockchain technology, not necessarily from future value of Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies. Cryptocurrency mining requires enormous amounts of computing power and energy, leading to controversies around environmental impacts, especially as Bitcoin circulation approaches its limit. New emerging cryptocurrencies are attempting to address issues of scalability, interoperability, and...