San Francisco Home Prices

Case Shiller and us

U.S. home prices dropped to a newlow in March. Case-Shiller home price index reports the lowest prices in five

years, confirming those fears of a double dip. National home prices declined 34% from the 2006 peak, down 5% in just the last year

Excesses of the Bubble Years

We are still working crippling debt, over priced homes and excess supply. Too many families owe too much money. Banks hold too much debt collateralized by too real estate and no doubt too little interest in adding to their property protfolio. All leading to too much market supply as banks dump homes at fire sale prices.

How did San Francisco Do

David Blitzer, Chair of the S&P index committe notes that numbers are down again, another 5%, but the pattern is not uniform. A few cities, Washington DC and San Francisco and San Diego, are above their recent lows.

Methodology

The Case Shiller San Francisco designation includes Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Mateo and San Francisco. So, for those of us interested in the San Francisco markets you should be aware that this is hardly clean data. Never the Less, we have fared better than many other cities. We have outperformed, along with San Diego and DC and are #3 of 20 in the month over month home price category.

Relative Strength

In bad markets, perspective is how well you did relative to your peers. Losing less in a bad market is an indicator of a strong(er) market. S&P also ranks cities by two other categories and here San Francisco also stands out as a more solid investment. San Francisco ranks 9 of 20 in both year over year and the since 2000 price category. Given that we are arguably the highest priced market in the country coming in just under the halfway mark is somewhat encouraging. In fact San Francisco, it seems to bucks the truism that the higher you go the harder you fall.

Thanks For Reading

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