Or in the case of San Francisco condo prices, the angel is in the details. San Francisco condo values have held their values better than any other Bay Area county. See chart below.
In April, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that condos or "individually owned multi-unit complexes are suffering through a perfect storm of circumstances that have undermined values and left remaining homeowners to pick up the slack for defaulting neighbors."
The article explains how distressed home sales in condo complexes (foreclosures, short sales, REOs) combined with tighter lending guidelines have made it nearly impossible for a would be home buyer to buy a condo without either an extremely large down payment or no loan at all (all cash purchase).
In other words, if there are too many renters vs owners or too many homeowners in default or an HOA balance sheet that isn't so balanced, the major banks will not lend purchase loans (not to mention the major refinance problem).
A lack of financing for prospective condo buyers puts heavy downward pressure on condo prices.
But, of course, the devil is in the details. As we often point out in this San Francisco real estate blog, it is important to read the entire article and thoroughly analyze the statistics before freaking out. Yes, the value of a condo in the San Francisco Bay Area is significantly lower than in 2007 BUT not all counties have fared the same.
Take a look at this chart. In San Francisco, the price of a resale condo is down 14.5% 2010 vs. peak. Sonoma county condo values are down 53.9% over the same period.
Whether you are a current owner of a SF condo or a prospective condo buyer in San Francisco, you can take comfort.
The San Francisco real estate market is unique. People from all over the world want to live here. We are a small peninsula with very little land left to develop. And have you tried to tear down, remodel or renovate in this town?! We have limited listing inventory (supply) in good times and bad. That keeps us somewhat insulated from major market fluctuations. Again, I am not saying that we are immune. We have suffered during this Great Recession. (For gosh sake, I sell real estate for a living!) Times have been tough. And yet, there is light at the end of the tunnel.
| County | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | Peak | 2010 vs. peak |
| Alameda | $462,500 | $460,000 | $320,000 | $250,000 | $248,250 | $462,500 | -46.3% |
| Contra Costa | 420,000 | 429,000 | 280,000 | 185,000 | 180,000 | 429,000 | -58.0 |
| Marin | 548,750 | 570,000 | 402,000 | 317,500 | 350,000 | 570,000 | -38.6 |
| Napa | 462,000 | 440,000 | 400,000 | 242,000 | 236,500 | 462,000 | -48.8 |
| Santa Clara | 499,000 | 520,000 | 417,500 | 300,000 | 328,773 | 520,000 | -36.8 |
| San Francisco | 715,000 | 760,000 | 749,000 | 640,000 | 650,000 | 760,000 | -14.5 |
| San Mateo | 535,000 | 550,000 | 450,000 | 393,000 | 375,000 | 550,000 | -31.8 |
| Solano | 300,000 | 294,000 | 125,000 | 75,000 | 78,000 | 300,000 | -74.0 |
| Sonoma | 380,000 | 359,500 | 220,000 | 174,500 | 175,000 | 380,000 | -53.9 |
| Bay Area | $490,000 | $508,000 | $375,000 | $275,000 | $290,000 | $508,000 | -42.9% |
Source: DataQuick Information Services
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/04/09/BUHC1IRH7P.DTL&ao=2#ixzz1Lm6Hvs2Z
