Homebuyers Equally Rely on the Internet and Real Estate Professionals

Ninety-three percent of all homebuyers and 99 percent of millennials used websites during their search. Photos and detailed property information are the most useful online resources for home shoppers. Nearly 90 percent of homebuyers of all ages employed the services of a real estate professional. More than nine in 10 homebuyers employed the Internet at some point in their search process, and a near equal...

Wage Growth Is Outpacing Home Price Growth in Major Bay Area Job Centers

Nationwide, housing affordability is at its lowest level in more than 10 years in the fourth quarter. Wages are growing faster than home prices on an annual basis in San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Clara counties. Marin County is the nation’s second-least affordable housing market, with the average household needing to spend more than 120 percent of its annual wages to purchase the median-priced...

San Francisco: America’s Best City for Keeping New Year’s Resolutions

Residents of San Francisco have the best chance in the U.S. of keeping their New Year’s resolutions, with particularly promising prospects for building relationships. San Jose also ranks in the top 10 for resolution-friendliness, boosted by inhabitants’ inclinations to avoid bad habits. Fremont residents have the nation’s best median credit score and lowest adult obesity rate. New Year’s resolutions are easy to set but not...

Happy Holidays 2018 From Compass!

All of us in Compass’ California offices would like to wish you a very happy and festive holiday season. Whether you’re traveling or simply staying put here in the Golden State, we hope you have a safe and relaxing holiday surrounded by family and friends. We’re taking a couple of days off to kick back ourselves, but please check back on Wednesday, Dec. 26, as...

Video: California November Jobs Report

Check out this short animation, which offers highlights from November’s California jobs report. To read the full analysis from Compass Chief Economist Selma Hepp, click here.

A Look at California’s November Jobs, The Fed’s Interest-Rate Decision, and the State’s Population Growth

California added 30,700 jobs in November, with the unemployment rate holding at a record-low 4.1 percent according to the latest numbers from the state Employment Development Department. October’s job gains were revised up to 36,800. Over the last year, a 1.8 percent increase in employment led to 299,800 new jobs. The state has created 3,078,100 jobs since February 2010. Nine out of 11 industries added...

What Are First-Time Homebuyers’ Biggest Regrets?

Buying a house that was too small is the biggest mistake that first-time buyers of all age groups say that they made. Almost half of first-time buyers did not financially plan for unexpected maintenance costs with the initial year of owning a home. Regrets aside, about two-thirds of all buyers say that they were completely or mostly happy with their first home. Anyone who is...

California Homebuyers See More Favorable Market Conditions in November

Active California home listings rose for the eighth straight month in November, up by more than 30 percent year over year. The median sales price for a single-family home in California was $554,760, an annual gain of 1.5 percent. Both the nine-county Bay Area and the Los Angeles metropolitan area saw cooling price growth, up by a respective 0.6 percent (to $905,000) and 2.3 percent...

Survey: Very Few Millennial Renters Plan to Buy Homes in 2019

Nearly 90 percent of millennial renters expect to buy a home in the future, but just 4 percent plan to do so within the next year. Amassing a down payment is millennials’ biggest barrier to homeownership, and almost half of them have not saved any money for that purpose. About 80 percent of millennials in the San Francisco metropolitan area will need more than 20...