2021 Was a Banner Year 

The San Francisco Chronicle asked us how 2021 went — here’s what we said: 

How would you recap the year in the Bay Area's real estate market?

Fast, furious and fickle are just a few ways to describe 2021’s Bay Area housing market. Fast in that many homes sold so very quickly, barely making it to the first open house before offers were in, which is infuriating for foks who didn’t even get a chance to see a property let alone bid on it before it was gone. If a home checked all the boxes, it was as good as gold, while other seemingly ideal homes sat on the market. What changed?   

Low mortgage rates and money saved from the Pandemic helped fuel radically changed buyer priorities as people were forced into becoming home bodies. The technology that makes working from home possible (the same that makes virtual opens and 3-D property tours possible) has really shifted the focus away from stacked living in high-rise denser urban areas in favor of homes in outlying areas that have outdoor space that might have been ruled out previously because of a long commute. Indeed, price data bears this out as median prices in San Francisco have hovered around $1,000/sqft since 2017, with condos being priced more than houses ($1,100/sqft vs. $900). In 2021, we saw the two property categories reach near parity with trend favoring houses so that in 2022, it’ll be likely that houses will overtake condominiums on a per square foot basis as they push towards the $1,100/sqft range.