More Good News for U.S. and California Home Shoppers, as Appreciation Slows

The median price for an existing U.S. single-family home was $257,600 as of the fourth quarter, up by 4.0 percent year over year.U.S. home price growth outpaced annual appreciation in the San Francisco metropolitan area, while San Jose saw home prices fall from the fourth quarter of 2017.Despite cooling price growth, San Francisco and San Jose remain America’s most expensive housing markets. Nationwide, homebuyers had...

Home of the Week: Airy Malibu Oceanfront Home

West Coast casual meets New York loft attitude in this sunswept beach house, set on some 60 feet of dazzling ocean frontage at 19158 Pacific Coast Highway. Within the large, private, atrium-style courtyard, stairs rise to a house-spanning rooftop deck with spectacular views of the coastline. It offers room for expansive dining and seating areas, with conversations set to the music of waves. In the...

Housing Affordability Improves in California’s Most Expensive Counties

Twenty-eight percent of California households could afford the median-priced home in the fourth quarter, down slightly from the same time in 2017.California’s four million-dollar housing markets — San Mateo, San Francisco, Marin, and Santa Clara counties — all saw affordability improve year over year.The number of households in the Los Angeles metropolitan area and Los Angeles County decreased slightly from the fourth quarter of 2017...

Compass’ January 2019 Real Estate Update

The pace of sales slowed in January from one year earlier in most Bay Area regions in which Compass (reflecting the company formerly known as Pacific Union) operates, except for Marin County and the East Bay. The latter region was the only one in the Bay Area that saw homes sell for premiums in the first month of 2019. Click on the image accompanying each...

Home of the Week: Golden-Age Treasure With Timeless Appeal

In the 1920s, when this stately Spanish Colonial Revival masterpiece was born, Piedmont boasted that it had more millionaires per square mile than any other city in the country. Today, the expansive, light-filled layout and beautiful scale of 227 Crocker Ave. reflect the easy grandeur of California’s Golden Age at its livable best. A curving walkway leads to a filigreed iron gate that guards the...

California Home Sellers Want 2017 Prices, but Buyers Are Patient in 2019

. California housing markets are at a critical juncture at the beginning of 2019. After experiencing the tightest market conditions seen over the past three years in the first half of 2018, the number of homes sold in the Bay Area and Los Angeles has continuously declined since mid-2018. In January 2019, the year-over-year decrease in home sales continued at double-digit-percent rates, with the three-month...

Real Estate Roundup: California Homeowners Again Rank as the Nation’s Most Equity-Rich

Here’s a look at recent news of interest to homebuyers, home sellers, and the home-curious. SILICON VALLEY IS HOME TO THE COUNTRY’S MOST EQUITY-RICH HOMEOWNERS The number of U.S. residential properties classified as equity-rich climbed to another new all-time high in the fourth quarter, with the Golden State and three of its largest housing markets once again leading the pack. That’s according to ATTOM Data...

Home of the Week: Serene, Magical Retreat on More Than 2 Flat Wooded Acres

Offered for the first time in more than 60 years, this light-filled 1920 Italian Revival-style treasure is sequestered on 3130 Maiden Lane in the foothills of Altadena. Set against the backdrop of the San Gabriel Mountains on some 2.36 acres laced with rustic trails, the property has been owned by the same family since 1957. The formal living room of the 3,400-plus-square-foot home features a...

Home of the Week: Simply Elegant Napa Valley Retreat

Noted Bay Area/Hawaii architect Shay Zak collaborated with his wife, designer Mary Moore, in creating this Wine Country compound. They combined their skills to create a vast, airy estate that blends indoor and outdoor spaces into a world of easy elegance and  streamlined simplicity. Set in the heart of St. Helena, 1318 Stockton Street  is a celebration of natural materials. Wide-plank, solid-oak floors; Carrara marble;...