Home values soared in East Bay, South Bay while plummeting in San Francisco, Oakland

As home values in much of the East Bay and South Bay have surged by over in the past five years values in parts of San Francisco and Oakland have fallen precipitously In interviews with this news organization real estate agents throughout the Bay Area stated the trends were propelled by three primary dynamics COVID-driven demand for larger living spaces safety and quality of life concerns in the cities and high interest rates Details from Zillow shows that between the first three months of and home values in southern San Jose increased by around while cities in the East Bay like Castro Valley and San Ramon saw up to increases in home values In downtown San Francisco and Oakland meanwhile home values decreased by between and Shalini Reddy Sadda a San Francisco-based real estate agent at City Real Estate explained the impact of COVID on remote work was the single biggest driver of the exodus from San Francisco People demanded that extra office space and because it was COVID people were very cautious and they required outdoor space as well she explained Mikayla Weissman an East Bay-based real estate agent at Compass Real Estate agreed I think the industry that we saw from through was astronomical she mentioned It was just so extreme and functioning and competitive And it was because the East Bay can offer more space an extra room a backyard sunlight and a lot of other things The median sales price of single-family homes in the Bay Area was million in May according to the California Association of Realtors The median home price was in Contra Costa County million in Alameda County million in San Francisco and million in both San Mateo and Santa Clara counties Particular real estate agents declared that after the spike in demand for East Bay housing during the pandemic interest has cooled David Gunderman an Oakland-based agent at The Gunderman Group disclosed numerous of his clients were beginning to look away from the allures of an East Bay lifestyle and back toward big cities Related Articles San Pablo passes on implementing stronger renter protections Will lower mortgage rates save California s housing industry California consumers gave Trump better economic grades years ago Marin median house price climbs to million My Chemical Romance guitarist Ray Toro lists California home for million People don t have as much time or ability or patience for maintaining a big yard as they used to he mentioned People are enjoying density again I think they would value more walkability to a cafe or a coffee shop than they would having a yard that they may never use Helen Chong the founder of San Jose-based Haylen Real Estate announced higher crime rates in San Francisco and Oakland was the reason a large number of of her clients cited for moving from those cities to the South Bay Drug use homelessness and just violence in general have become really widespread she mentioned and in contrast to that Silicon Valley has a very family-friendly surroundings in terms of safety Chong also stressed the importance of school quality to families a factor the East Bay-based Weissman commented loomed large for multiple of her clients as well Schools are really major because they re families and places like Castro Valley Albany El Cerrito are all known for having really good school districts she explained That s still the goal of buyers right now They want space they want good schools they want that classic single-family home lifestyle Weissman explained she s noticed another phenomenon lately grandparents moving from San Francisco and elsewhere to be closer to their kids in the East Bay Eleven of the groups who attended one of her open houses in Kensington she explained were in that exact situation All their kids didn t ever make it into San Francisco or Marin so they ve set roots in Berkeley and Oakland she disclosed And now it s the grandparents wanting to also find somewhere where they feel safe and feel like it s nice and pretty to be around While San Francisco- and Oakland-based real estate agents stated the high-crime perception of their cities contributed to falling home values several agents reported they d started seeing these perceptions shift more just now Sadda in particular credited the polling of new mayor Daniel Lurie with breathing new life into the city I really see him on a day-to-day basis talking to the locals and I think that in itself is making a big impact she noted Oakland meanwhile has definitely had a branding complication around crime and safety and selected of the services like schools have been perceived to not be as robust as people would like Gunderman reported But for Gunderman things are trending up The Oakland city leadership is stabilizing under new leadership he declared Real estate agents also commented that economic uncertainty and high interest rates were depressing the housing region across the board Chong revealed up-to-date tariffs in particular had discouraged several of her clients from making the leap into the region I think there s so much uncertainty in the political surroundings she explained They re saying I don t want to react to it anymore because I don t know what s going to be new next week This is very rare Gunderman meanwhile noted the influence of high interest rates Rates on -year fixed-rate mortgages have risen above after dropping below during the heart of the pandemic It s created a shallower buyer pool that is understandably critical because they are paying a lot of money to buy these houses he explained Several other agents agreed that high interest rates were a key reason behind the housing realm s current lethargy But in plenty of up-to-date cases Weissman declared sellers could not hold on for lower rates any longer It s just been too long she reported So all those people are giving up and saying OK fine I m just going to do the move Gunderman noted several other microtrends he has seen people for instance trending away from fire-prone areas They re also simultaneously being called back to work so commute times they thought might never occur again are back in their consciousness he revealed You see that having an impact on the San Francisco sphere Ramesh Rao a South Bay-based agent at Coldwell Banker Real Estate pointed to the artificial intelligence boom as having had a unique effect on the South Bay housing sphere Millionaires are being minted on a daily basis he mentioned and the first thing they want to do is buy a home in the very well-known desirable areas like Saratoga Cupertino Los Altos and Los Altos Hills This trend he announced is keeping markets hot in the South Bay As for the future agents agreed that when interest rates lower they expect to see a spike in demand on the part of both buyers and sellers and a reinvigoration of the housing field The moment it comes down below Rao noted the buyers will take over And we ll see another rise spurt