San Francisco Market Trends Report - June 2020

Generally speaking, market activity- as measured by the number of listings going into contract - continued to pick up rapidly in May, bouncing back from the steep plunge following the first shelter-in-place orders. However, activity in May, which is typically among the business selling months of the year, remained somewhat below May 2019 in most, but not all counties. With the easing of shelter-in-place, as well as the market learning to adjust to new circumstances, it is expected the recovery and market activity will continue to strengthen. In fact, based on the strength of buyer demand, some analysts believe the coming months may be busier than in 2019, as sales activity that would have occurred in spring gents used into summer instead. Another big factor: interest rates hit yet another historic low at the end of May.

In an interesting dynamic, higher-priced home activity (listings priced $2 million+) - as measured by listings going into contract - dropped the most in April 2020 (down 64% year over year) and then renowned the most in May 2020. The high-price home segment was the strongest performing price segment in May 2020.

Note: Any statices derived from closed sales - such as median sales prices, sales volume and days on market - reflect the state of the marketing 3-6 weeks ago when the offers were negotiated and accepted. They are lagging indicators, and May sales data to a large degree reflects the much softer market in April. Market activity varied between different counties.