Read what Rick Turley, President of Coldwell Banker, San Francisco/Peninsula says in his latest weekly report:

How many different economic reports came out this week? It seems that every day, another dozen or so indices, studies, surveys and reports about the housing industry make the headlines. Perhaps too many, as we are seeing many buyers finally decide not to listen to all of these numbers, and are instead getting financing approved, making offers, signing contracts and moving into the home of their dreams.

We traditionally experience a slow down during the holidays, this time of year many home sellers are focused on selling their home before the New Year. There is a lot of negotiating still going on out there and buyer activity continues to increase with a sense of urgency that may be attributable to a holiday decrease in inventory in many areas, and the desire to buy or sell before the end of the year.

Many areas of the Peninsula continue to suffer from a shortage of inventory. Burlingame and Woodside/Portola Valley also report an increase of off market listings – homes selling before they ever hit the MLS – especially in the $2-4 million range. There’s a different story in northern San Mateo County, where more REO properties and short sales are showing up. In San Francisco, well-priced listings continue to garner multiple offers, and though our offices report a lot of negotiating and counteroffers, activity is robust for many properties. Several offices have reported an increase in escrows falling out, and one office reported each fall out was quickly replaced with a new sale.

Read the entire report here.

- Rick Turley

* For an e-mail alert when this report is updated, send an e-mail to info@SFResidence.com with “weekly market report” in the subject line.

Foster Weeks publishes a weekly mortgage report which is updated every Monday morning. How is this affecting the San Francisco real estate market? Read our weekly and monthly market reports.

SURVEY SAYS…?” Richard Dawson’s classic line on Family Feud is exactly the question that was on many minds at 8:29am ET last Friday morning, awaiting the official results of the November Jobs Report. After Automatic Data Processing (ADP) had released their hot numbers earlier in the week, indicating well over 200,000 new jobs created – traders and analysts began to wonder if Friday’s official number might not come in far higher than the expectations of 70,000.

So when the results came in, it did show 94,000 new jobs created during November – but prior month’s revisions took back 48,000 jobs previously counted in September and October. So…given this overall tame to semi-weak Jobs number – which generally would cause Bonds and home loan rates to improve – what happened that caused Bond pricing to worsen, and home loan rates to increase by .25%?

First, Bonds and home loan rates had recently improved to levels not seen in well over two years – so Bonds were almost looking for a reason to correct – and a few strong elements inside the Jobs Report were all the reason they needed. The Unemployment Rate stayed at a low 4.7%, which was better than expected. Additionally, the closely watched Hourly Earnings number was up 0.5%, higher than anticipated, and the largest read in over two years. Higher wages and a tight job market are both inflationary…inflation is bad news for Bonds and home loan rates…hence the large worsening in Bond prices and home loan rates. And the action isn’t likely to let up soon – read on for a look at what’s in store during the action packed week ahead!

Read the entire report here.

- Foster Weeks

Yahoo Travel says this about the Camera Obscura and Holographic Gallery:

This San Francisco landmark was built to resemble a vintage camera, but the origins of the camera obscura are far older than modern photography. Leonardo da Vinci outlined the principles governing it in the 16th century. You enter a darkened, hushed room where the walls are lined in black velvet and holograms. In the center is a bowl-shaped screen, 3 1/2 feet in diameter. Using mirrors and lenses, a living image of the surrounding ocean and beach are projected onto the screen. The difference between seeing that scene outside or seeing it on the camera obscura is the difference between reality and a dream.

Neighborhood: Richmond District

1096 Point Lobos AvenueSan Francisco, CA 94121-1449

+1 415 750 0415

Open Hours 11am-sunset Mon-Sun

- Christine Serventi

Previous things to do:

Parts 1 – 20, Part 21 – Yerba Buena Ice Skating & Bowling Center, Part 22 – 49-mile Scenic Drive, Part 23 – Segway San Francisco Electric Tour, Part 24 – Vesuvio, Part 25 – Haight-Ashbury Street Fair, Part 26 – Wyland Galleries, Part 27 – Metreon, Part 28 – Angel Island, Part 29 – San Francisco Fire Engine Tours & Adventures, Part 30 – Aquarium of the Bay, Part 31 – Haas-Lilienthal House, Part 32 – San Francisco Zoo, Part 33 – Stow Lake Boat & Bike Rentals, Part 34 – Ghirardelli Square Chocolate Festival, Part 35 – Kertesz Fine Art Gallery, Part 36 – City Hall, Part 37 – SS Jeremiah O’Brien, Part 38 – Saints Peter and Paul Church, Part 39 – San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, Part 40 – GoCar Rentals, Part 41 – Cable Car Museum, Part 42 – Transamerica Pyramid

SFResidence is part of the TRI Coldwell Banker office at 1699 Van Ness in San Francisco which is one of the premier offices in the City and has the market share numbers to prove it. We have some of the top agents selling real estate in the San Francisco Bay Area. As a result, our office posts some impressive numbers.

The numbers we see below reflect the typical holiday slow down, but we do expect to see the numbers change as the holidays pass and Buyers and Sellers refocus on getting back into the market.

Here are the numbers for this week: 12/05/07:

• 3 new listings (average price $3,984,667 – low $789,000, high $8,975,000)
• 3 ratified sales (pending) (average price $2,848,000 – low $1,699,000, high $3,595,000)
• 6 closed sales (sold) (average price $1,639,833 – low $439,000, high $4,250,000)

- Christine Serventi

Read what Rick Turley, President of Coldwell Banker, San Francisco/Peninsula says in his latest weekly report:

Other areas are seeing increased buyer activity as well, but note that buyers are also negotiating heavily to get prices and terms into alignment with what they are reading in the headlines. While C.A.R. reported that the state’s median resale home price fell 9.9% in October, the report also stated that many communities saw increases during the same time period including Redwood City (20.6%), San Carlos (9.5%) and San Ramon (14.4%) among the top ten in the state. The same report indicates that year-over-year prices in the San Francisco Bay Area as a whole have increased 8.9%. It is important for consumers to make informed decisions based on individual needs and the actual local market and timeliness in a given area, community, neighborhood or street.Read the entire report here.

Foster Weeks publishes a weekly mortgage report which is updated every Monday morning. How is this affecting the San Francisco real estate market? Read our weekly and monthly market reports.

“WE’RE SO BUSY WATCHING OUT FOR WHAT’S JUST AHEAD OF US…THAT WE DON’T TAKE TIME TO ENJOY WHERE WE ARE.” Bill Watterson in the comic strip, Calvin & Hobbes And while these are certainly wise words for the upcoming holiday season – they also aptly describe the mood in the markets, as Bond Traders look ahead to the end of the coming week, with the arrival of the important Jobs Report. But maybe they should take a moment to enjoy where they are, as despite massive volatility, Bonds saw nice gains last week with home loan rates improving by about .125%.

Bond prices improved on a number of factors, including a tame read on inflation via the Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) index. Why? Look at it this way – if Bonds were Superman, inflation would be its Kryptonite, because of inflation’s ability to erode and weaken the buying power of the fixed return provided by a Bond. So when news arrives indicating that inflation appears to be under control, Bond prices and home loan rates improve on the favorable news.

Read the entire report here.

- Foster Weeks

If anything can be concluded from the numbers below, it is that California real estate as a whole is taking a hit. Fortunately for us, San Francisco has been protected from what the rest of the state has experienced.

- Janis Stone

• Calif. median home price – October 07: $497,110 (Source: C.A.R.) (note: compared to $530,830 last month)
• Calif. highest median home price by C.A.R. region October 07: Santa Barbara So. Coast $1,325,000 (Source: C.A.R.) (note: compared to $1,667,500 last month)
• Calif. lowest median home price by C.A.R. region October 07: High Desert $265,880 (Source: C.A.R.) (note: compared to $271,940 last month)
• Calif. First-time Buyer Affordability Index – Second Quarter 07: 24 percent (Source: C.A.R.) (note: compared to 07:25 first quarter)

Mortgage rates – week ending 11/21:

• 30-yr. fixed: 6.2%; Fees/points: 0.5% (note: compared to 6.4% and 0.5% points last report)
• 15-yr. fixed: 5.83%; Fees/points: 0.5% (note: compared to 6.08% and 0.6% points last report)
• 1-yr. adjustable: 5.42%; Fees/points: 0.6% (note: compared to 5.76% and 0.6% points last report)

- California Association of Realtors & Freddie Mac