San Francisco: America’s Best City to Be a Real Estate Professional

San Francisco ranks as the top U.S. market for real estate professionals in 2018. San Jose, Fremont, Oakland, and Santa Rosa all count among the 10 best places to be a real estate professional. Four of the nation’s five fastest-paced real estate markets are located in the Bay Area. The Bay Area continued to see intense demand for real estate in the first quarter of...

The 10 Bay Area Housing Markets Where Buyers Paid the Most Per Square Foot: Q1 2018

A recently sold home in Palo Alto, where buyers paid an average of more than $1,600 per square foot in the first quarter. In the high-priced world of Bay Area real estate, square footage can be an expensive proposition. In fact, in some of the region’s most popular and exclusive communities, a home’s price per square foot can be downright astronomical. To find out where...

Real Estate Roundup: California Housing Markets Are No Longer on Top of the Nation’s Hot List

Here’s a look at recent news of interest to homebuyers, home sellers, and the home-curious. SAN FRANCISCO LOSES ITS STATUS AS HOTTEST U.S. REAL ESTATE MARKET IN APRIL For the past couple of years, California cities have dominated realtor.com’s monthly list of the nation’s 20 hottest real estate markets, with San Francisco, San Jose, and Vallejo trading off the No. 1 spot. But that situation...

The Next Three Months Are the Best Time to Sell a Home in California

Nationwide, May is the best month to sell a home for more than its value, with sellers receiving average premiums of 5.9 percent between 2011 and 2017. In 85 percent of California markets, May, June, and July are the top months to sell a home. April and May are the best months for sellers in the Bay Area, while Southern California sellers have the greatest...

Bay Area Homebuyers Are Rarely Denied Mortgages

Homebuyers in San Jose had the lowest mortgage-denial rate in the nation in 2016, at 5 percent. Applicants’ excessive debt-to-income ratios is the main reason for mortgage denial in San Jose, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, cited by about one-third of lenders. Other reasons that Bay Area mortgage seekers are likely to be denied are incomplete personal information and credit applications, as well as insufficient...

Silicon Valley Posts the Nation’s Largest Home Price Increases, Seller Returns in the First Quarter

The median home price in San Jose rose to $1.15 million in the first quarter, a year-over-year gain of 33.2 percent. Almost 60 percent of first-quarter home sales in San Jose were for more than $1 million. San Jose and San Francisco home sellers raked in the largest returns in the U.S. in the first quarter, a respective 109.1 percent and 73.6 percent. Demand for...

Video: California March Jobs Report

Check out this short animation that offers highlights of March’s California jobs report. To read the full analysis by Pacific Union Chief Economist Selma Hepp, which includes detailed information on Bay Area and Los Angeles County job markets, click here.  

California Maintains Record-Low Unemployment Rate in March

California’s unemployment rate remained at a record-low 4.3 percent in March, in a series of numbers from the state Employment Development Department dating back to the beginning of 1976. Seasonally adjusted figures, however, show a decline of 7,200 jobs from the previous month. Unadjusted numbers show an increase of 42,200 jobs from February. March’s decline could be due to some volatility in the seasonal adjustment...

Real Estate Roundup: California Homebuyers Face the Nation’s Longest Down-Payment Savings Time

Here’s a look at recent news of interest to homebuyers, home sellers, and the home-curious. IT TAKES A DECADE TO SAVE FOR A DOWN PAYMENT IN THE BAY AREA AND LOS ANGELES Although workers in the San Francisco area earn some of the highest salaries in the U.S., the region’s high-dollar housing market dictates that amassing a down payment takes nearly a decade. An analysis...