6 bedrooms. There are 10 bathrooms. Almost 10,000 square feet. It cost him only $34.5 million.
The price of a Presidio Heights home sold in March was the highest price ever listed for a home in San Francisco this year. For most residents, it’s a prohibitively expensive property, many times higher than the city’s typical home price of $1.25 million.
But the sale at 3450 Washington Street reflects a price reduction of more than $10 million from the original list price of $45 million, which last year was one of the highest in San Francisco. It spent more than 120 days on the market before finding a buyer, according to data provided by Compass Real Estate.
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The second most expensive home sold in San Francisco through November of this year was another six-bedroom home in Pacific Heights, priced at $23.5 million. Compass data does not include privately listed homes.
Multimillion-dollar home sales in San Francisco have been more common in recent months than in early 2023, according to data from real estate brokerage Compass. But local real estate agents say the number of luxury home purchases this year is lower than in recent boom years, with rising interest rates deterring even wealthy buyers from paying big bucks.
San Francisco’s housing market saw a surge in the number of homes sold for at least $5 million in 2021 and the first half of 2022, along with other properties. The San Francisco Bay housing market boomed due to low mortgage rates, limited inventory, and rapid immigration. This region and the rest of the country experienced rapid price increases. From September to November 2021, 58 homes sold in San Francisco for at least $5 million, and 8 homes sold for at least $10 million.
“Money was cheap and people knew it,” says Compass real estate agent Karen Mendelsohn Gould. “It was easy to get money and easy to trade. Everyone felt good.”
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However, from the end of 2022 to the beginning of 2023, the market slowed down significantly, mainly due to rising interest rates. Despite the recent increase, only 29 San Francisco homes sold for at least $5 million between September and November 2023, and six of those sold for at least $10 million. Both tallies were slightly higher than pre-pandemic levels.
According to Redfin, the number of luxury home listings is increasing nationally, even as the inventory of non-luxury homes is decreasing. The number of such homes sold in San Francisco and San Mateo County increased nearly 10% from the third quarter of 2022 to 2023, according to the real estate brokerage site. Redfin defines luxury homes as homes rated within the top 5% of the metropolitan area. .
Compass real estate agent Val Steele said these trends may not apply to all price points. Buyers looking for homes between $5 million and $8 million are often much more vulnerable to rising interest rates than buyers buying cash for a $20 million home, she explains. did.
More than 40% of luxury homes sold nationwide in the third quarter of 2023 were purchased in full, compared to just 28% of non-luxury homes, Redfin said.
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Real estate agents previously told the Chronicle that buyers are also sensitive to stock market conditions, which have started to rise in recent months. As a result, “great homes” are left unsold on the market.
“In years past, if it was a good house, it was gone,” Gould said. “[Now] The calculation just doesn’t work for the buyer. ”
Contact Christian Leonard: Christian.Leonard@sfchronicle.com