2020 Market Review
Pandemic, shelter in place, mass unemployment, terrible financial hardships for many residents and small businesses, new ways of working, office buildings empty, people moving, dreadful fires, an anxious presidential election, interest rates to historic lows, stock markets to new highs, IPO mania breaks out again, vaccines begin to arrive – and the Bay Area real estate market went into hyperdrive, with median home sales prices hitting new peaks. The luxury home market in particular was extremely strong. 2020: a year of extremes.
Many factors affect home values: quality of location within the city, architectural style and curb appeal, square footage, condition, views, amenities, extra rooms, parking, decks and yards, privacy, lot size, and so on. There is a vast variety of homes within the region and within cities, and how median sales prices apply to any particular property is unknown without a specific comparative market analysis.
Median sales price is that price at which half the sales occurred for more and half for less. It is a very general statistic that often disguises a wide range of prices in the underlying individual sales. Median sales prices are often affected by factors besides changes in fair market value. Based upon sales reported to MLS – not all sales are reported. Data from sources deemed reliable, but may contain errors and is subject to revision. All numbers are approximate. Late reported sales may alter numbers, though typically only to a slight degree.