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May 9, 2012

The SF Inventory is Finally Arriving

Buyers and Realtors have been complaining about the lack of residential inventory in San Francisco since earlier this year. Indeed, it seems like buyers are fully engaged in our single-family home, condo and multi-unit offerings and have hit the market looking for property all at the same time. That means that for every cool house in a central location, there are 10-15 sets of buyers waiting to pounce.

The multiple offers and pouncing is still happening, but I’ve been encouraged over the past two weeks by the increase in property availability. Of course, I gauge most activity by how many listings come on the market daily, but there are more anecdotal signs that things are changing. For example, I noticed three houses with newly adorned For Sale signs on my Upper Noe dogwalk route this afternoon. And about three other properties being painted. Our Zephyr preview tour had more than a dozen new listings last week, and this week there are another 14 for us to see. Instead of only being able to recommend a couple properties for each of my buyers, I’ve been able to recommend significantly more to many of them.

I don’t think it’s coincidental that the inventory increase is happening in May. I’ve been selling real estate for the past ten years, and there’s always a bump up in offerings around this time of year. But a couple months ago, I was a bit concerned that history wouldn’t repeat itself.

If you’re thinking of jumping into the market, I have some news for you: It’s time to go look at open houses. There are finally enough properties coming on the market to keep you fully occupied from 2:00-4:00 on Sunday.

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