Happy Holidays 2017 From Pacific Union

All of us at Pacific Union would like to wish you the happiest of holidays. Whether you’re traveling or staying put here in the Bay Area, we hope that your holiday season is full of joy and good cheer surrounded by loved ones and friends. We’ll return tomorrow to close out 2017 with more news, analyses, and exclusive content from the always exciting world of Bay Area real estate!...

U.S., Bay Area Real Estate Markets Remain Scorching in November

Nationwide, home sales reached their highest level in nearly 11 years in November. The U.S. median home sales price rose to $248,000, up 5.8 percent year over year for the 69th straight month of annual gains. The San Jose, Vallejo, and San Francisco real estate markets continued to rank as the three hottest in the country. San Jose ranked as the hottest U.S. real estate market for the thir...

Pacific Union’s California Regional Real Estate Forecasts to 2020

On Nov. 15, Pacific Union held its fourth annual Bay Area Real Estate and Economic Forecast in partnership with John Burns Real Estate Consulting at the SFJAZZ Center in San Francisco. Two weeks later, we presented our first-ever forecast for Los Angeles at the Skirball Cultural Center. The downloadable whitepapers below summarize our overall and California metropolitan statistical area (MSA...

Both Younger and Older Americans Prefer Walkable Neighborhoods

About 60 percent of both millennials and Americans aged 73 and older prefer living in communities in which they can walk to amenities. More than half of those surveyed believe that living in a walkable neighborhood is key to their satisfaction. Regardless of age bracket, one-third of Americans believe that living near public transportation is important. More than half of millennials and o...

Bay Area Housing Inventory Further Tightens in November

The median sales price for a single-family home in the nine-county Bay Area increased by 12.5 percent year over year in November to $910,350. Home prices rose from November of last year in all nine Bay Area counties, with six seeing double-digit percentage point appreciation. Seven Bay Area counties have the state’s most severe inventory shortages, with less than two months of supply....

Real Estate Roundup: Silicon Valley Tech Giants Named Among Best Workplaces 10 Years Running

Here’s a look at recent news of interest to homebuyers, home sellers, and the home-curious. GOOGLE, APPLE MARK DECADE-LONG STINT ON LIST OF BEST U.S. PLACES TO WORK While big paychecks and healthy work-life balances make Silicon Valley companies highly attractive to talented tech workers, shaping innovative products with exceptionally bright colleagues cannot be underestimated when it comes...

Final Version of Tax Reform Is Still Detrimental for California Housing Markets

Republicans in Congress reconciled their different versions of the tax reform and offered their final version of the so-called Tax Cuts and Jobs Act today. Congress will vote on the final version next week, which is only slightly more favorable than the initial House of Representatives bill but still highly detrimental for most of California’s coastal housing markets. Below are some r...

Bay Area Homebuyers Still Lead the Nation for Down-Payment Size

The average U.S. down payment was $20,000 in the third quarter, a 17-year high. Buyers in the San Jose and San Francisco metropolitan areas again made the largest down payments in the country, a respective $247,000 and $170,000. San Jose has the nation’s largest number of co-borrowers, with more than half of loans involving multiple mortgage holders. The average U.S. down-payment siz...

California, Bay Area Mortgage Delinquencies Continue to Drop

The number of U.S. borrowers who were 30 days or more late on their mortgage payments fell to 5.0 percent in September, the lowest level in 10 years. California’s 30-day delinquency rate dropped to 2.8 percent, while the state foreclosure rate fell to 0.2 percent. Delinquency rates in the San Jose, San Francisco, Santa Rosa, and Napa metropolitan areas are lower than both the national...