Cindy Liebsch
Peninsula Real Estate News
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Bloomberg Article: Home Prices Exploding in Silicon Valley Amid More Millionaires!
Home Prices Exploding in Silicon Valley Amid More Millionaires
A surge in wealth from technology stock sales and initial public offerings is spilling into the Silicon Valley real estate market as newly rich workers bid up home values in suburban cities south of San Francisco.
The median price of single-family houses sold in Palo Alto, home of Facebook Inc., climbed 20 percent in May from a year earlier to $1.63 million, the biggest jump since 2008, according to preliminary figures from research company DataQuick. In Mountain View, the base of LinkedIn Corp., prices rose 3.1 percent to $957,500, the ninth year-over-year gain in 12 months.
The advances are defying a U.S. housing slump that has sent national values to an eight-year low. Share sales such as the IPO of LinkedIn — which doubled on its first day of trading — and an expected offering from Facebook will fuel a boom in some Silicon Valley cities into 2013, said Kenneth Rosen, an economist at the University of California, Berkeley.
“It’s just the beginning of the story and I suspect we’ll see an explosion in the next couple years,” Rosen, chairman of the school’s Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics, said in a telephone interview. “You’ve got young people with real money, and it’s not surprising they want to have a house.”
IPO Filings
Almost 300 companies have filed for IPOs in 2011, the most for any year during the same period since 2000, and more than 10 percent of those are in California, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Silicon Valley is the U.S. hub for early-stage companies, receiving almost 40 percent of the $23.3 billion in venture-firm investments last year, estimates from the National Venture Capital Association show.
Pandora Media Inc. climbed 8.9 percent today as shares began trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The online radio company, based about 35 miles (56 kilometers) north of Silicon Valley in Oakland, raised $234.9 million in its IPO. Shares were priced at $16, above the expected $10 to $12 range.
The real estate gains in Silicon Valley, located primarily in the San Jose metropolitan area, are mostly occurring in towns where million-dollar values are already the norm. The median price in Cupertino gained 12 percent last month from May 2010 to $1.08 million, and values in Saratoga rose 4.7 percent to $1.62 million, according to San Diego-based DataQuick.
U.S. Price Declines
Housing in much of the rest of the nation is struggling as foreclosures and unemployment of more than 9 percent weigh on consumer sentiment. Home prices in 20 U.S. cities dropped 3.6 percent in March from a year earlier to the lowest since 2003, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller index of property values. The measure has declined 33 percent from its 2006 peak.
In Palo Alto, traffic at home showings has tripled in the last three weeks, with the average age of potential buyers dropping from about 50 to the mid-30s, said Daniel Siciliano, an associate dean at Stanford Law School who attends the tours because he’s in the market for a bigger house.
“People at startups have a lot of pent-up demand and tend to spend a portion of their new liquidity pretty quickly,” Siciliano said of his newfound competition for residential real estate. “They want to manifest their wealth.”
Past Silicon Valley property booms started in Palo Alto, adjacent to the Stanford campus, and Cupertino, home of Apple Inc. (AAPL), because of those institutional links and their coveted public schools, said Stephen Levy, director of the Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy in Palo Alto. Buyers from China have also been drawn by education resources in prestige valley locations and pushed up demand.
‘Happening Place’
“We’re a happening place because of the university and a lot of the folks that have been buying are relatively young,” said Levy, who has viewed downtown condominiums selling for double what he paid in 2005. “We have the best train service to San Francisco. I can be downtown in 35 minutes.”
Sean Scott, head of sales for Redwood City-based software firm Ingenuity Systems Inc., looked at a four-bedroom, two-bath home in Palo Alto last month priced at $1.8 million. The house has “soaring ceilings and generous living spaces,” two patios and a “lush backyard garden,” according to a marketing flyer.
A sale is pending for more than 20 percent above the asking price, or at least $2.2 million, after five bids were received, said Denise Simons, the listing agent at Alain Pinel Realtors.
“The market seems to be returning to the crazy days and the question is whether or not it is a false recovery or a sustained recovery,” Scott said in an e-mail after viewing two more homes at $1.25 million or more, and declining to make any offers. “I suspect that it is a sustained recovery, given the planned liquidity events with social-networking companies.”
Facebook IPO
Speculation that Facebook will go public in the next year is mounting even as the world’s largest social-media site remains silent about its plans. The company may have an IPO in the first quarter of 2012 with a valuation as high as $100 billion, cable channel CNBC reported June 13, citing people familiar with the matter.
Some investors have already cashed in equity in their companies through private share sales, boosting Silicon Valley housing demand and contributing to price gains, Rosen said. Stakes in closely held firms can be sold on secondary exchanges such as SharesPost Inc., which connects buyers and sellers. The exchange values Facebook at almost $53 billion.
Shares granted to employees of public companies can’t be sold until 180 days after the IPO, under U.S. securities rules.
New Millionaires
“You will probably see hundreds, if not thousands, of newly minted millionaires in the next two or three years,” said Steve Eskenazi, a tech investor in Hillsborough, north of Palo Alto, where the minimum lot size is a half acre (0.2 hectare). He sold his portion of an online advertising network to Sunnyvale-based Yahoo! Inc. in 2007.
“Most people in their 20s who find themselves millionaires feel it’s their inalienable right to buy real estate, and they’re typically not price sensitive,” Eskenazi said.
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, 27, bought a house this year in Palo Alto, said Larry Yu, a company spokesman. He declined to disclose details. Zuckerberg paid $7 million for a 5,000-square-foot (465-square-meter), seven-bedroom home in a “leafy and affluent” neighborhood, the San Jose Mercury News reported May 5, without saying where it got the information.
The purchase was made before Facebook’s scheduled move to Menlo Park, just north of Palo Alto.
15 Miles
As more firms go public and workers cash in shares, real estate within 15 miles of the office will climb, said Rosen, who gave a presentation at Google Inc. (GOOG)’s Mountain View headquarters before the company’s 2004 IPO to educate employees on housing. Sales are usually concentrated in the “middle to upper end,” he said.
In Cupertino, about 12 miles from Palo Alto, a three- bedroom home listed for $908,000 got more than a dozen offers and sold for $950,000 on June 8, said Albert Kao, an agent at Giant Realty Inc. in the city. The prior owner, who bought the property in 2002, decided to sell after her children graduated from the public schools. She made a $290,000 profit before commissions, Kao said.
Lower-priced areas are still struggling with weak demand. In all of Santa Clara County, which encompasses some Silicon Valley cities, prices decreased 5.1 percent in May from a year earlier to $498,000 as distressed sales pulled values down in the broader market, DataQuick said in a report today. The drop was smaller than in the rest of the San Francisco Bay area, with the nine-county median in the region tumbling 9.3 percent.
Groupon, Zynga
Groupon Inc., an online coupon provider based in Chicago, filed for an initial share sale June 2 and is hiring engineers in California, according to its website. As early as March, Groupon was in talks with bankers about an IPO that would value the company at as much as $25 billion, two people familiar with the matter said at the time.
Zynga Inc. of San Francisco, the largest maker of games for Facebook and valued at $8.8 billion on SharesPost, may file for an IPO by the end of the month, a person with knowledge of the matter said June 3.
Those firms are among the companies that will help Silicon Valley grow by about 20,000 workers in 2011, said Levy, the California economist. Software publishers and Web portals accounted for 5,600 of the 13,400 jobs added in the year through April in the San Jose metropolitan area, according to the California Employment Development Department.
“We’re at the beginnings of an expansion of the job base,” said Levy. “There will be a lot of hiring.”
Simons, the agent for the four-bedroom Palo Alto home, said there were five “excellent” offers for the 2,257-square-foot residence. It was constructed in 1973 by California developer Joseph Eichler, who built thousands of “progressive” tract houses in middle-class neighborhoods, according to a website devoted to the properties.
“There are people who want to get in and they’re willing to pay,” Simons said outside the home, which was repainted, landscaped and staged with furniture before the public showings. “We’re just starting to see the market come back.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Dan Levy in San Francisco at dlevy13@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Kara Wetzel at kwetzel@bloomberg.net
March 2011 Bay Area Home Sales The Best Since 2007
Bay Area March home sales the best since 2007
Numbers signal market could finally be getting its footing again
“Home sales catch fire in March” “Local home sales at 5-year high”. Before the cynics accuse me of being a “homer” for the housing market, I have to tell you that these aren’t my words, but the opinion of our local news media. Specifically they are headlines from the San Jose Mercury News, Oakland Tribune, and the Santa Rosa Press Democrat. I know that’s a twist, considering some of the negative headlines we’ve seen in the press lately.
As reporter Eve Mitchell and other journalists around the region noted, Bay Area home sales had their best March in four years, with 7,051 new and existing single-family homes and condos changing hands. That was up a whopping 41.3 percent from February. It’s normal for sales to rise from February to March, but last month’s surge was far more than usual.
Certainly historically low home prices are having an impact. So are historically low interest rates, spurring buyers to jump off the fence. It appears that we’re finally seeing some of the pent-up demand that has been building for the past few years being released into the market – at least here in the Bay Area. Most of our local offices around the Bay are reporting steady to improving sales activity and overall market conditions. Multiple offers, low inventory; here are just a few examples:
There is a lot of pent-up demand up and down the mid-Peninsula. Our Palo Alto office says they’re seeing an extremely strong market with “almost everything below $3.5M getting multiple offers;
In the South Bay, our Cupertino office reports buyers are chasing too few good properties. When was the last time you heard that?
The Los Gatos market has heated up a lot lately, especially in the lower price ranges where multiple offers are the norm. But even in the upper end, sellers are “feeling more confident putting their homes on the market” and getting a good price;
The market in Saratoga is hot, according to our manager there. In the last few days they had one property with eight offers and another with 19 offers. Both sold significantly over the asking price;
In the North Bay, our Greenbrae office had a number $2-$4 million homes go into contract recently with a lot of activity in the high-end markets of Ross, Belvedere, Tiburon, Sausalito, Larkspur and Kentfield;
And our San Francisco Van Ness office is seeing a strong increase in sales, especially in the higher end properties.
While many parts of the Bay are seeing progress on the housing front, the picture isn’t uniform across the board. Some cities are experiencing stronger markets than others (the Peninsula, Silicon Valley, San Francisco and Southern Marin are particularly strong). In some communities, certain price ranges are hot while others are tepid. And even within a local market, while one property may get a eight or 10 offers, another sits idle waiting for a single buyer.
Nonetheless, the recent uptick in activity in general is providing encouragement to Realtors as well as home sellers.
In its April 14 report on the Bay Area housing market, DataQuick noted that “a variety of indicators – including investor and cash purchase levels and adjustable-rate loan use – pointed toward a more normal market,” but the firm added that we’re not there yet. “The housing market has certainly moved well back from the abyss of two years ago, but there is quite a ways to go,” said John Walsh, DataQuick’s president.
Walsh noted that the Bay Area has much less of a foreclosure problem than the rest of the state, but distressed properties are still an issue in some counties and a drag on prices. He added that mortgage financing is still problematic for many potential borrowers as well.
The monthly market analysis demonstrated that real estate is really a local business. Several of the higher priced counties in the Bay Area saw strong gains in sales last month, including 10.7% for Marin, 8.6% for San Mateo, 3.9% for Santa Clara, others experience declines. Alameda was down 7%, Solano 7.9%, and Napa 5.9 percent.
So we appear to be moving in the right direction. I’m encouraged that the spring rejuvenation in many of our markets will continue in the months ahead, especially if the economy and the local job market continues to improve. Only time will tell.
Rick Turley
President, San Francisco Bay Area
Coldwell Banker
10 Best Housing Markets of The Decade
Here’s a good article from Forbes. Of the 10 best housing markets of the decade, San Francisco metro reported a 43% increase in value during the 2000′s. Home values for us in the metro peninsula bay area (Atherton, Menlo Park, Woodside etc.) also ended up pretty well for the decade despite the crash. Only gold and bonds did better than most of the top 10 performers in real estate according to the Forbes article below. Thought you would find this interesting…
http://www.forbes.com/2010/12/06/housing-price-decade-personal-finance-gains-losses-cities.html?feed=rss_popstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+forbes%2FEZKq+%28Forbes.com%3A+Most+popular+stories%29
Refined Living Without Defined Walls
Michael Boodro, Editor in Chief of Elle Decor, shares the latest trend in home design. The photos are inspiring! This can be done in homes in Menlo Park, Atherton, Palo Alto, Los Altos or Woodside properties. Enjoy the photos and words of advice from a pro.
http://previewsinsideout.com/
What Does “Rise of the Creative Class” Mean for Bay Area Real Estate?
Rick Turley, local President of Coldwell Banker shares his insight on a new perspective to consider. What will the future hold for real estate in Atherton, Menlo Park, Palo Alto and further north and south?
The rise of the “Creative Class” and what it means for Bay Area real estate
By: Rick Turley, President, San Francisco Bay Area, Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage
I recently picked up a fascinating book by Richard Florida, the best-selling author and world-renowned expert on urban studies. In his book, The Rise of the Creative Class, Professor Florida argues that a region’s economic health and vibrancy will increasingly depend on how well it attracts and retains what he calls “the creative class” – a fast-growing, highly educated and well-paid segment of the workforce.
Florida describes the creative class as “a profound new force in the economy and life of America.” Members of the creative class do a wide variety of work in a wide variety of industries, from technology to entertainment, journalism to finance, high-end manufacturing to the arts. “They do not consciously think of themselves as a class. Yet they share a common ethos that values creativity, individuality, difference, and merit,” he writes.
What attracts the creative class to an area? In an article for The Washington Monthly, Florida writes that “creative centers provide a solid mix of high-tech industry, plentiful outdoor amenities, and an older urban center whose rebirth has been fueled in part by a combination of creativity and innovative technology, as well as lifestyle amenities.
“More and more businesses understand that ethos and are making the adaptations necessary to attract and retain creative class employees –everything from relaxed dress codes, flexible schedules, and new work rules in the office to hiring recruiters who throw Frisbees. Most civic leaders, however, have failed to understand that what is true for corporations is also true for cities and regions: Places that succeed in attracting and retaining creative class people prosper; those that fail don’t.”
How do you build a truly creative community – one that can survive and prosper in this emerging age? “The key can no longer be found in the usual strategies,” Florida writes. “Recruiting more companies won’t do it; neither will trying to become the next Silicon Valley. While it certainly remains important to have a solid business climate, having an effective people climate is even more essential. By this I mean a general strategy aimed at attracting and retaining people – especially, but not limited to, creative people. This entails remaining open to diversity and actively working to cultivate it, and investing in the lifestyle amenities that people really want and use often, as opposed to using financial incentives to attract companies, build professional sports stadiums, or develop retail complexes.”
It struck me as I was reading The Rise of the Creative Class that where the creative class decides to migrate can go a long way to determining the long-term health of a region’s housing market every bit as much as it determines the health of the economy. So how does the San Francisco Bay Area fare? Extremely well. In fact, when Florida decided to rank large urban areas in the U.S., the Bay Area came out as No. 1. (see the chart below from The Washington Monthly). In his article, Florida says that “the San Francisco Bay Area has everything from posh inner-city neighborhoods to ultra-hip districts like SoMa (South of Market) and lifestyle enclaves like Marin County as well as the Silicon Valley.”
Those of us who live here know that we pay a price to do so. Our housing market is certainly one of the more expensive ones in the country. But we’re willing to pay a premium because this region has so much to offer, from a vibrant and growing economy to world-class restaurants, arts and entertainment, from wonderful weather and beautiful scenery to seemingly endless outdoor activities. Just as important, I believe, is the Bay Area’s overall quality of life, our rich culture of diversity and creativity. It’s why we will continue to be a premier destination for the “creative class” – the entrepreneurs and leaders of tomorrow. It’s also why our housing market should remain strong and growing for years to come.
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800 El Camino Real, Suite 300 Menlo Park, California, 94025
Cell Phone: 650-591-7473 | Office: 650-591-7473
Fax: 650-323-7128 | DRE #01324217
Email: Cindy@PropertiesByTheBay.Com
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